Glowing Starlight
by SoWhatever
Summary: Sequel to Ivory Moon! Yugi, dealing with the recent loss of his boyfriend, gets a shock on the first day of school when a replica of the dead man shows up as a new student. What could this lead to? Yugi and his friends have to find out, and as each deal with their own problems, an evil power looms over them, threatening to take everything they love. YY RB MM (I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!)
1. Introductions

**SW: My first sequel! Thank you to all the reviews and follows and favorites on the prequel!**

**Malik: Let's hope it turns out well.**

**Ryou: You mean you hope you won't die in this one?**

**SW: Enjoy!**

* * *

_Yugi laughed at a joke his boyfriend of three years had just made. They were sitting in his car and were stopped at a red light. Atem looked over at Yugi with love and leaned over to peck him on the cheek._

_Yugi blushed but couldn't keep the grin off his face. "Pay attention to the road, Atem!"_

_The man looked back to the road and made sure the light was still red. He turned back to Yugi with a smirk, leaning in close. "It's still a red light, Yugi. We've got a little time."_

"_We-Well, um-" Yugi looked away from the captivating crimson just in time to see the light turn green. "It's green now! You can go!"_

_Atem gave a small sigh and turned back to the road, ignoring the annoyed honking behind him and pressing on the gas. He didn't see the flashing blue and red lights on his left, and he didn't see the approaching headlights._

_Yugi looked over and saw the car speeding away from police lights. He gave a scream and reached over to the grab the wheel to try and get Atem to turn away from the oncoming crash. But he wasn't quick enough. The car was hit dead-on and Yugi felt it go airborne, his body feeling lightweight. Everything was in slow-motion and he looked out the window to see cement._

_Atem reached over, his head bloody, and covered Yugi's body with his own. Yugi could see the ground approaching and braced himself when they hit-_

Yugi screamed and launched himself out of his bed, his tangled mess of sweaty bed sheets following him. He sat up from the ground with a jolt, his breathing heavy. When he had calmed down enough to comprehend what had happened, he sighed and ran a hand over his face. It had been almost a year since the accident and he was still having nightmares about it. He was just glad he hadn't woken up his grandfather.

He looked at the time and decided it wasn't worth it to try and fall back to sleep, so he stood up and walked to the bathroom to take a shower.

When he got out he grabbed his duel deck and backpack and made his way to the kitchen, thinking over what had happened that fateful night.

He and Atem had been on a date and were heading home. A criminal had been found after escaping from prison and was trying to run away. He had sped right through a red light, and hadn't seen the car in front of him because he was looking back at the police cars. He had died on impact, but he wasn't the only casualty that night. By throwing his body in front of Yugi, Atem had saved the boy's life, but sacrificed his own. A piece of metal had found its way under the airbag and would've impaled Yugi, but Atem's body had slowed it down, and it never touched the boy.

Yugi had been unresponsive for weeks after the crash, he had only recently started talking again, and his friends had started to relax around him. It had taken a lot of convincing on Ryou, Joey, and Malik's part to get him to believe that Atem's death wasn't his fault, even though there was a small part of him that never really believed what his friends were telling him.

Yugi sighed and ate a small breakfast, thinking of the future he and Atem had been dreaming of. Atem's father was going to resign and pass the company on to the next generation and Yugi was going to be right there with him, they had been planning to get married after graduation.

Now, the Kibo gaming company was going to Atem's cousin, Seto, and Yugi was in a never-ending circle of remembering what was and what could have been.

He sighed again and stood up, gently sliding his deck into the side pocket of his backpack, and headed off to the first day of school.

* * *

Yami sighed and placed down Dark Magician, using a small amount of shadow magic to make a mini version of the duel monster appear above it. As he waited for Marik to make his move, he looked to the left, out the plane window, taking in the thousands of feet that was between him and the ground. Not that he was nervous or anything, Yami was perfectly sure that this death trap of a private plane would be able to get him safe to Japan. He hoped.

Marik laid down a monster in defense and a facedown, either a magic or trap card, but by the look on Marik's face, it was a trap. Yami snorted and drew a card to start his turn. "You have a horrible poker face."

Marik frowned and crossed his arms, making sure his cards weren't facing Yami. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Yami placed Jinzo down on the game field, making the monster show over its card, "that I know that you laid down a trap," He attacked the facedown with Dark Magician, watching how Marik growled at not being able to use his trap card, "and I can win." He finished his turn by attacking with Jinzo, and eliminating the rest of Marik's life points.

Marik swore under his breath and gathered the cards on his field and graveyard, reshuffling them into his deck. "Again."

Yami smirked and gathered his cards as well. "Haven't you learned your lesson yet?" He handed over his cards and took Marik's offered ones, shuffling them before handing the deck back. "It's, what, the fifth time I've beat you? You aren't going to win."

"I will!" Yami had to give Marik points for determination, but he doubted that it would pay off. Sighing, he drew five cards to start the game and looked over to the other two occupants of the plane cabin. He wrinkled his nose in disgust before turning back to game and back to ignoring the sounds the two were making.

Akefia stuck his tongue into Bakura's mouth, smirking as his was met with equal lust. Akefia pushed Bakura into his seat, placing his knee in between Bakura's legs. Bakura growled and gripped the back of Akefia's head with one hand while the other reached over the side of the chair to the handle that kicked back the seat. Once Bakura had accomplished that, Akefia took the opportunity to straddle the man now lying backwards.

The two broke for air, Akefia dragging his teeth on Bakura's bottom lip, and thinking to himself that Bakura looked quite sexy when he was out of breath. Bakura gripped Akefia's shoulders and brought them down, letting him get close enough to nibble on the lobe of his ear and trail his tongue around the appendage.

Akefia's breath came out huskily and he smirked as he dropped his hips down, earning himself a pleasured groan from under him. Hands slid under the back of his shirt and Akefia pressed for another kiss, which was readily answered.

Bakura pushed his tongue forward, twisting it with Akefia's as the two fought for dominance. Not that it mattered. The man growled in the back of his throat as Akefia shoved his tongue into Bakura's warm mouth, sweeping it across the back of his teeth. Just because he was aroused didn't mean he had to like it. He pulled his hands from under Akefia's shirt and trailed them up his back, tugging teasingly on the chopped strands of hair at the base of Akefia's neck.

The two continued to kiss and didn't notice the new entrance to the cabin. Marik and Yami looked up from their card game to see Bakura's mother enter. Rolling his eyes in annoyance, he slipped his cards into his carry-on, having seen the glare the woman had sent him when she saw the game.

"Now, Yami, you know how I feel about you four playing children's card games." When Yami opened his mouth to answer, the woman cut him off. "Yes, I know I'm not your real mother, so I can't tell you what to do, but after the," she paused as if looking for the right word, "unfortunate accident that killed not only your parents, but those of Marik and Akefia, I decided to take you under my wings."

Marik snorted, completely ignoring the annoyed look it got him, not caring about the parents he rarely saw, and kicked his feet up onto the table that they had just been playing cards on. "Still doesn't explain why we need to go to Japan with you." He, Akefia, and Yami were all perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, having done so for most of their lives. In all honestly, when their parents had died, there had been no real shift in their lives, and, at least on Marik's and Akefia's part, they were glad that the controlling idiots who thought they could order around teens they never saw were gone.

The woman shrugged. "Family business." She looked over at her son, smiling politely as if the man wasn't in the middle of a make out session. "Do any of you need anything? We'll be arriving in Japan shortly, so this is your last chance to eat before we land."

Marik made a gagging noise at the mention of plane food and Yami's mouth twitched as he held back a laugh, deciding it wouldn't be good to get on Bakura's mother's bad side. He had seen it before when she dealt with shareholders and it wasn't pretty.

The woman scowled at the two as if they were unwanted nuisances, which in her opinion, they were. They stood in the way of her taking over the largest production company in the world. They provided materials for different products in almost every country, and had important connections, including in major companies like Kaiba Corp. When Yami, Akefia, and Marik's parents had created the company together, they had left out Bakura's only parent as if sensing the woman wasn't exactly right in the head, leaving her behind in the dust. Now, the three children were all going to inherit equal portions of the company and the woman would get absolutely nothing. She turned on her heel and walked out of the cabin, to the sound of Marik's insane laughter.

Yami went to back to staring out the window, waiting for Marik to calm down again. 'This is going to be so strange. Sure, we know Japanese, but the customs are so weird there.' No longer hearing laughter, he looked at Marik and saw him staring at the ground below them as well. "Don't forget we have to put our last names first when we introduce ourselves."

"Yeah, yeah. And use those idiotic honorifics, blah, blah, blah. Stop being such a mother hen."

"I am not a mother hen!" Marik smirked as Yami got riled up, finally something exciting.

"Says you." The man chuckled as Yami huffed and turned back to the window, even though his source of amusement had went away, it didn't make it any less funny.

* * *

Yugi giggled and shook his head at the look of concentration on Joey's face. "It's your turn, Joey!" Before class had started, Joey had turned around in his desk to challenge the gamer behind him to a Duel Monsters match.  
"Give me a min', Yug'. I think I might actually win this time!" Ryou laughed at that, watching the duel from the desk to the left of Yugi and shook his head. "The only chance you'd ever have at beating Yugi, Joey, is if he was asleep. And had his hands tied behind his back. And even then you wouldn't have much of a chance."

The two duelers blinked at the polite Ryou, who just shrugged. "Malik told me to say it, he said he would be busy and he knew you were going to challenge Yugi."

Just as the bell rang, Malik walked in, smirking behind him at the trail of swooning fanboys and fangirls that followed. He looked over the classroom, catching the eye of a blushing girl, before winking and moving through the room to talk to her.

Yugi sighed and put away his deck for the start of the class, ignoring the protests from Joey. "Malik's at it again."

"What'd ya expect? 'E's at the top of the pecking order now." All three shook their heads as Malik slid into a desk to the right of Joey, putting three folded pieces of paper on the table, most likely containing phone numbers.

"We're seniors, guys! It's awesome, right? Only one more year and we're out of this hellhole." Malik leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. "Not that I won't miss the fan club…though I'm sure I'll find another one in college."

Yugi laughed and pointed to the pieces of paper. "Are those what I think they are, Malik?" The lilac-eyed boy ignored the disapproving tone and grinned.

"If you're thinking they're phone numbers, then yes. I have more in my bag, of course." Joey rolled his eyes as Malik slipped the three phone numbers of hopeful girls or boys, it was no secret Malik was bisexual, into his backpack to join the others just as the teacher walked in.

"Good morning, class. I'd like to introduce four new students to our fine establishment. So, please Wheeler-san, pay attention." The rest of the class snickered as Joey's head jerked up from the table, the teacher had only just started talking and already he was falling asleep. Gasps replaced the laughs as the new students walked into the room. "If you'll please introduce yourselves…"

A man with tri-colored hair and ruby eyes stepped forward. "My name is Kage Yami." Yami glared as the whispers grew. He knew he had an accent, but he didn't think it would cause this much shock.

"Yes, well, take a seat behind Motou-san. Yugi? Please raise your hand." A quivering hand rose in the air and Yami walked toward it, taking in the rumors that were flying.

"Oh my gosh, he looks exactly like Atem-sama!" "He was even given Atem-sama's old seat!" "Do you think he's a ghost?" "He's so hot, I don't care if he's a ghost, I'd date him!" "I wonder how Yugi must be feeling…"

Yami passed by the boy called Yugi, his eyes lowered, and his hand shooting back down, still staring at his desk. Wondering what was happening, and who this 'Atem' was, he looked over at the albino who was worried about the boy he sat behind. As he sat down at his desk, his eyes widened when he saw the Bakura look-a-like looking back at him in curiosity. Noticing that he was caught staring, the boy blushed and quickly turned back to the front of the class, burying his nose in his textbook. 'Nope, definitely not Bakura.' Yami smirked to himself and looked to the front of the class where Marik was introducing himself.

"Yo, I'm Akuma Marik." He winked at the class, smirking as the girls all squealed. The teacher tried to hold back a groan, 'Great, another Malik.'

"Alright, Akuma-san. You may sit in front of Bakura-san and to the left of Wheeler-san." An albino boy and a blonde raised their hands and Marik's eyes widened as he moved to his seat, before remembering that the teacher was addressing the students by their last names.

"Hey, Bakura! This kid looks exactly like you! And his last name is the same as your first!" Ignoring the blush on the kid's face, he turned to the front of the class to see Bakura occupied with other things. "Oh, never mind, I'll tell you later." He sat down at his desk, completely bored with his surroundings, until he got a glimpse of a certain blonde. The boy was separated from him by another blonde, but his wasn't the shade of white sand that Marik was admiring. No, the platinum blonde with lilac eyes had Marik's full attention, but that person was staring at the front with eyebrows raised.

There was a round of gasps, and a boy had to rush out of the room with a nose bleed, but everyone saw the scene in front of them. Akefia had pressed Bakura against the chalkboard, his hands on either side of his head.

Breaking the deep kiss slowly, Akefia looked over at the teacher as she coughed lightly. "I'm sorry, I think you're interrupting something."

"You might want to get that cough checked out though." Bakura smirked before he was pulled into another kiss.

The teacher huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "PDA is against the rules here at Domino High, if you don't take your seats, I'm afraid I'll have to send you to the office." A smug smile went across her face as the two broke apart, shrugging and looking over at the teacher.

"Sure." Bakura walked over to the only remaining open desk with his hands in his pockets, sliding over the top of the desk to land smartly in the chair. He winked over at the albino peeking at him from around a textbook to his right, smirking at the squeak that followed. "Senshi Bakura's the name, don't wear it out." He announced to the rest of the class, glaring at anyone he had deemed was staring for too long, sending them whirling in their seats to face the front.

Akefia smiled brightly, something that sent shivers down the spines of the three in class who knew him. "Where would you like me to sit, Teacher? There aren't any seats left. Oh, I know!" He moved around a desk and plopped himself into a swiveling chair…that belonged to the teacher. "Nice to meet you class, my name is Dorobo Akefia."

Rolling his eyes at the resulting glare contest between Akefia and the teacher, Yami laid his head on one of his hands, taking in the hunched over form of the boy in front of him, the not-so-sly glances Marik was sending someone with the same shade of hair he had, and the smirking Bakura. 'This is going to be a long year…'

* * *

**SW: BTW, Kibo was Atem's last name and it means hope in Japanese, Yami's last name Kage means shadow, Marik's last name Akuma means devil, Bakura's last name means warrior, and Akefia's last name means thief. Oh, and if you're confused, PDA means Public Display of Affection!**

**Atem: I didn't even in make it past the first chapter!  
Malik: *fist pump* I didn't die!**

**Atem: *grumble* …Yet.**

**Malik: Hey! You don't know that!**

**SW: Anyways…**

**I hope you liked all the plot twists that make this different from the original story! ;) Please review!**


	2. After School

**SW: Chapter Two!  
Yugi: Hooray!**

**Yami: Does Yugi hate me?  
SW: No, he just thinks you look like his old boyfriend, so he's avoiding you.**

**Yami: *rolling eyes* Oh, because **_**that **_**is so much better.**

**Thank you to IlluminatedWord (I'm glad you like! Thank you! ;) I like my names to mean something. Thank you!), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Yeah…they never do seem to get a break in my stories, do they?), samaurai (I know right?), takininja13 (You got it! Aren't reincarnations the best?), and snow-kim (Yeah…sucks right? And you'll understand the reason for everyone being in the story eventually, I still got some plot twists ahead!) for reviewing!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

As soon as the bell rang to mark the end of school, Joey, Malik, and Ryou all surrounded Yugi, quickly ushering him out of the classroom. They left behind a slightly confused Yami and a disappointed Marik who hadn't had the chance to talk with his new infatuation.

Yami stretched and stood, watching as Marik shook Bakura awake and Akefia walked over from the front of the class, where the teacher put him, once the office had delivered another desk, so that she could 'keep an eye on him'. Akefia smirked and looked around the empty room. "So how was your first day everyone?"

"Boring. Let's go home." Bakura yawned and stood up, slapping away Marik's hand, that was still trying to 'wake him up'. "I'm up, you asshole."

Marik snickered and trailed Bakura out of the room, closely followed by Yami and Akefia, to the front of the school where their limo was waiting.

* * *

Yugi sighed. He appreciated his friends' concern, but he was fine, really. "Guys, thanks for the support, but I'm okay, I think I'll just go to the music room."  
"Are you sure, Yugi?"

The boy nodded his head, not wanting to inconvenience anyone. "Yeah, besides, Ryou, you have to work, Marik, you have to check in with Mahad-kun," This was followed by a groan on Malik's part, "and Joey, you have a date with Seto-kun that you've been talking non-stop about."

"I can call in sick." "Speaking of calling, let me just phone Mahad." "I can cancel."

Yugi held his hands up to stop the protests. "Please, guys. It's alright. I'll just hang out here for an hour or so then head on home, okay?"

Malik and Joey sighed and Ryou looked at Yugi, uncertain. "I don't know, Yugi."

"Really, I'll be fine." He made shooing motions with his hands. "Now go have fun and I'll see you tomorrow."

After reluctant nods from all three of his friends, Yugi watched Ryou, Malik, and Joey make their way out of the school. When he couldn't see them anymore, he let his façade crumble. Just when he had started to smooth out the jagged edges of his broken heart, when it had started to hurt less, the fates just _had _to bring in someone that made him flash back to all the happy memories he had shared with his love.

Not even realizing his feet had been moving, Yugi blinked in shock when he realized he had made it to the music room. Smiling a little, he pulled out a key the music teacher had given him after finding out that Yugi was, well, a prodigy.

The boy only ever entered in local competitions, but had won every one by a landslide. He had waved off any insistences on the music teacher's part to enter into national or international competitions, he only did the local ones for the prize money when he and his grandpa absolutely needed it. He hated the thought of leaving behind his grandfather and their game shop and he knew that once he started down a competitive path, that was what was going to happen.

Slipping silently into the dark room, Yugi reached over and flipped the light switch, sighing at the familiar sight of the instruments crowding the room. He dropped his bag at the door and slowly walked forward, trailing his fingers over the keys of the piano in the middle of the room. He looked over the room, trying to decide which instrument to pick.

He hummed and walked to the strings, picking up the bow next to a cello. He sat down in the chair next to the large instrument and played a note before shaking his head at the deep, resonating sound it made and standing up.

Yugi smiled lightly when he saw a very familiar, black leather case. Since the school had been making pay cuts recently, the music department had suffered greatly and many of the instruments were in disrepair. He wasn't sure how, but the music teacher had been able to scrap up enough money to buy a beautiful violin, Yugi's favorite choice.

Smiling wider, Yugi popped open the lid of the case, running his hands over the red satin that lined it. The wood stained a deep, shining black, the sleek form, and the plush leather chin rest called to Yugi. He picked it up tenderly and grabbed the bow that was sitting next to it in the case.

Moving the bow across the four strings that were strung across the length of the violin, Yugi created a small melody, closing his eyes and letting the music tell the story. It started high and quick-paced, Yugi's pulse speeding up with it, the beginnings of first love. It mellowed out, but was still fast, and at parts seemed to jump, like Yugi's heart whenever Atem surprised him with something romantic. Then the tune came to an abrupt stop, just like Atem's life. When he picked the song back up, it was slow and sad, the heartbreaking tune pulling on notes that lasted for ages, like the amount of time Yugi had spent, and still was spending, mourning. The song ended without a finish, leaving off at a hopeful note that still had more to tell, but Yugi stopped, sensing someone else in the room.

There was slow clapping and Yugi stiffened, turning around to meet iridescent eyes. They always seemed to send shivers down Yugi's spine. He turned back around so he wouldn't have to stare into those eyes, one green and one gold, feigning the excuse of putting away his violin. "What do you want, Waru-san?" He didn't have to look to know that the turquoise-haired man's lackeys, Duke and Panik, were there in the room as well. They never left his side.

"How many times do I have to tell you, Yugi? Call me Dartz."

Yugi flipped the last latch on the case closed and reluctantly stood and faced the man, the part of him that was pushed down by his politeness snorting in the back of his mind when he saw he was right that Duke and Panik were behind Dartz. "Can you please not call me by my first name? I really only feel comfortable when friends do it." The unspoken words were heard loud and clear, they weren't friends.

Dartz paid no attention to it. "Oh, come on, Yugi. Don't be like that. You know I care about you." Lust-filled eyes ran over his body and Yugi suppressed the urge to shudder. "Besides, I was just listening to you play, quite beautifully if I might add."

Yugi swallowed. 'Be brave. Like Atem.' It was no secret that Dartz' father, Pegasus, was the leader of one of the most feared gangs, and had started to bring his son into the family business, but there was no evidence, so no arrests could be made. He walked past Dartz, and he almost stopped when something whispered in his mind. Shaking his head, he picked up his bag and walked over to the door where Duke and Panik and were standing. He took a breath. "Move out of the way, please."

Dartz reluctantly nodded and the two let the boy out of the room. "You will be mine someday, Yugi. It's just a matter of time until you see the light." And if Duke or Panik noticed the way his eyes glowed, neither said anything.

* * *

Ryou sighed, taking off his apron and rubbing his tense shoulders. He had just finished his shift as a busboy and now he was off to go answer a personal ad he had seen in the newspaper. They had asked for someone to clean a house and Ryou had almost choked on his tea when he saw the amount of money they were offering. He might have suggested calling in sick to Yugi, but he was glad he didn't have to miss out on taking this job.

He had been out of the orphanage for two years, since he was sixteen. Even though he technically should have still been there, the mistress was glad to have the boy off her chest, he was always returned after being taken in a foster home, not because he was a problem, but because the families no longer wanted him. So Ryou had been taking care of himself since he had left, working as many shifts as he could at Burger World to pay the bills. However, it was against the rules for students to work, so Yugi and the others had always covered for him, and he had lied about his age at first to get the job.

Ryou changed out of his uniform in the restaurant bathroom, and into a pair of dark jeans and a slightly faded blue and white striped shirt, his favorite one, and started to walk to the address that was on the paper. When he began to get close, he looked around, intimidated by the large mansions that populated this neighborhood. No wonder they were able to offer so much money for the job.

Stopping at a particularly large one and checking the address three times to be sure, he walked up to the oversized door and rang the bell. While he was waiting, he looked around the outside of the house, taking the vaulted ceiling of the front porch, the large windows and the exotic flowers that covered the front garden.

Almost jumping in shock when the door opened, he smiled politely at the white-haired woman in front of him, trying not to cower from the glare she sent him. "What do you want?"

"I'm here for the cleaning job you asked for in the paper." Ryou said softly, and though his smile wavered lightly at her harsh tone, it never fell from his face.

The woman looked him over for a minute before nodding her head and opening the door wider to allow him entrance. "Come in. You may call me Senshi-sama."

Ryou bit his lip at the familiar last name. He recognized it as the name of one of the new kids at school. Judging from the hair and brown eyes, though hers seemed colder than the boy Ryou was thinking of, this was Bakura's mother.

Following the woman up a staircase and down a hallway, Ryou took in the pristine and shining floors, not seeing a speck of dust on any of the antiques that lined the hallway on small tables. 'What would she have me clean? This house is in top shape…' He couldn't imagine that any other part of the house could be dirty, if they keep just a hallway in such condition.

"You will just need to clean my son's room. Though we have only been here a week, he seems to have found reason to trash his room. However, you will, on occasion, clean his friends' rooms, should they request it."

"Yes, Senshi-sama." Ryou nodded his head and almost ran into the woman as she stopped abruptly in front of a door.

She opened the door and gestured inside, where Ryou slowly walked, taking in some of the mess he could see in the unlit room. "You will arrive once a week starting Saturday and you will work from noon to three, understood?" The woman kept talking, leaving no time for argument on Ryou's part. "You will be paid at the end of each session. Try not to break anything."

"Yes, Senshi-sama."

Bakura's mother huffed and looked Ryou over. "You have respect. Maybe my son can learn a thing or two from you." With that she turned her back on Ryou, and the room. "You can work an hour today, I will pay you at the door."

Ryou had to resist the urge to roll his eyes as the woman slammed the door behind her, leaving him in the dark. Talk about control freak.

* * *

Malik stared at his door, hands in his pockets. Sighing, he reached out and opened it. "Mahad! I'm home!" He slipped off his shoes and deposited his backpack full of folded pieces of paper and homework he would never do.

Mahad came in from the kitchen, wiping his hands on his black jeans. "There you are!" He crossed his arms over his purple shirt and gestured with his head to the kitchen, his long brown hair following the motion. "Come on, dinner's ready."

Malik walked past the man and sat down at the table, resting his head on his hand and watching as Mahad entered behind him and grabbed two plates that were resting on the stove. "I think I might go to the dojo today."

Mahad gave him a stern look and sat across from him at the table. "You know how Isis feels about you going there." He slid a plate over to Malik and looked over to the side, not noticing how Malik started to mouth the words Mahad was saying, having heard the speech before. "She doesn't want you fighting and putting yourself in danger, she wants you to know that-"

"Violence isn't the answer." Malik picks up the speech and puts down his fork. "I know, Mahad, but I'm _good _at it. And we don't really hurt each other at the dojo, it's just self-defense."

The man scowled. "Self-defense or not, you're not going."

Malik groaned. "But Mahad…" Mahad raised his eyebrows at the whine and Malik changed his tactics. "C'mon, please? You know I'm going to go anyway, you should just be happy I told you."

"What would Isis say, Malik?" Mahad sighed at the pleading look from across the table and ran a hand over his face. "Fine."

Malik leaped out of his chair with a shout. "Yes! Thank you!" He ran around the table and hugged Mahad before running to the door to slip his shoes on. "Just put my dinner in the fridge, I'll heat it up later. Bye!"

He ran out the door and Mahad shook his head before finishing his dinner and putting Malik's plastic wrapped one in the fridge.

Malik jogged lightly down the sidewalk, knowing the way to the dojo by heart. He walked up to a two-story building, stopping and staring at the entrance before smiling and entering it confidently.

The first floor held weights and treadmills, the buff men working with them nodding their heads to Malik as he passed, before going back to their exercises. In the back corner, there was a stairwell that led to the second floor, and Malik made a beeline for it.

At the top of the stairs there was a small room, blocking off viewers from the mats with a floor-length window. He smiled at the sight of the fighters on the other side of the glass practicing all styles of martial arts before he turned left and into the locker room that led onto the mats.

He changed quickly into his white karategi, tying the shirt shut quickly with a black cloth belt that had ten yellow stripes on one end. He left his shoes and clothes in a locker, clicking it shut with the combination lock he kept there. He opened the door at the end of the locker room, and stepped onto the foam mats that covered every inch of the floor and went up the wall for about a foot.

He waved to a few people sparring before walking up and kneeling before a man sitting cross-legged on a pillow. "Hello, Shishou."

The man moved his eyes away from overlooking all those practicing to rest on Malik's bent head. "Malik." His voice filled with kindness. "I'm so glad you could come today. Which style would you like to practice?"

Malik smiled brightly and looked up into the dojo owner's eyes, considering the question. He was a master of four styles, judo, aikido, karate, and jujitsu, and loved practicing them, even if no one in the dojo matched up to his ability. "How about aikido today?"

The man nodded and motioned for a student to approach. "You, Sento-san, will be practicing with Malik today." The student's eyes shone and he smiled brightly.

He turned to Malik and bowed from the waist. "It will be an honor to fight with you, Ishtar-sensei."

Malik blushed and stood up, motioning for Sento to do the same. "I'm sure we'll have fun. And you can call me Malik. We'll be fighting together after all."

Both bowed to the man sitting on the cushion before moving to an open spot on the mat, other aikido students staring with jealousy at the one who was ready to start bouncing off the walls, everyone wanted the chance to train with Malik, his fighting was incredible.

The two turned to each other and bowed, before jerking back up and standing in a ready position. Sento moved forward first, reaching out to do a basic head strike, but Malik easily grasped the man's arm and flipped him sideways with a first technique. Malik released Sento and the man rolled back before pushing up with his arms to land on his feet. He attacked again, attempting to do a fifth technique, to render Malik's wrist useless, but Malik stopped him and put him off balance with the heaven-and-earth method before he transitioned into a figure-ten throw, where he locked Sento arms in a 't' and threw him onto the floor.

Malik stepped back and waited for Sento to rise again. This was normally how his practices went, he would attack and beat his opponent quickly, then wait for them to be ready to go again.

It went on for a few hours, longer than usual for Malik's opponents, before Sento fell backwards, panting heavily and wincing at every movement. "I'm done. You're amazing, Malik-sensei. I don't think I got one blow in."

Malik sat down next to Sento, not out of breath, but slowly loosening the muscles in his shoulders. "You really weren't that bad. Pretty good, if I say so myself. I had a few close calls back there."

That seemed to put the energy back in him. "Really? You think I'm good? Oh, wow." Sento stood up and bowed to Malik, even though his entire body was protesting. "Thanks, Malik-sensei! I'm going to train even harder now!" With that he smiled and ran off the mats and into the locker room.

Malik looked around, surprised not to see anyone but the master, and stood up, reaching his arms up in a stretch. "Shishou, where is everyone?"

The man chuckled. "After finishing their lesson for the day, they watched you and Sento-san, but they had to leave because my ten o'clock class, the children, is about to come in."

"It's almost ten!" Malik let his head fall back and groaned. "Mahad's gonna kill me."

"I'm glad you came. Sento was thinking about quitting the practice, but the encouragement you gave him should motivate him enough to find the love he had for aikido when he first started." The man shook his head as Malik blushed and smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "You really are amazing, Malik."

"Yeah, well-oomph!" Malik was thrown to the side as fifteen children tackled him to the ground at the same time.

"Malik-sensei! Hehe! We missed you!" "Yay! Are you gonna teach us today?" "Will you show us a new move?" "Did you win your fight today?"  
Malik laughed and gently pushed the children off of him. "No, I can't teach you today, I can't. And of course I won!" Malik smirked a little as all the children 'oh'ed.

He stood up and stretched, watching as the children's eyes followed his every movement. "You listen to Chishiki-shishou, alright?"

"Yeah! We all want to work hard to become shinobi, just like you!" Malik blinked before he laughed and rubbed a child's head. "I'm not a ninja, I just practice my fighting a lot."

He walked out, leaving behind children who all waved after him. "Have fun, Shishou!" He called over his shoulder, to which he got a chuckle in reply.

* * *

**SW: I'm sorry if I didn't portray Yugi playing the violin very well, besides my voice I don't have a musical bone in me, I can't read music and I have never really played an instrument. And that Duke is replacing Rex and Weevil. Oh, Dartz' last name Waru means evil, Sento-ki means fighter so I just shortened it for the guy Malik versed and Chishiki, the master's name, means knowledge.**

**Yugi: Dartz is in the story already?!  
SW: Well, so is Yami if you wanna look at it that way.**

**Review please! (Phew, I had to a lot of research for this chapter on the Malik part, if I did anything wrong please let me know)**


	3. Falling

**SW: Hey, guys!**

**Ryou: You really love this story, don't you, SW?**

**SW: Yeah! I'm writing such long chapters!**

**Yugi: For those of you who don't know, SoWhatever's average length is around 4 pages, but in this story she's written way past that for most of her chapters.**

**Thank you to snow-kim (Don't worry! I can't write a sad ending so I'm sure everything will work out eventually!), IlluminatedWord (Hehe ;) I'm glad you liked! I'm getting so caught up in this story it's impossible NOT to do research XD), samaurai (I know right? One can only imagine what Ryou will have to clean), and Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (I wouldn't be so sure on Duke ;) and yeah, I liked being able to write that Malik can kick some booty) for reviewing!**

**Happy reading! (If you don't like lemons ignore the stuff in between the bold words!)**

* * *

Malik slowly peered around the small crack of the door, looking into the darkened house to try and see if Mahad was still up. Not seeing anything, he stepped lightly into the house, careful to not touch any floorboards he knew creaked.

He quietly removed his shoes, and picked up the backpack that he had discarded at the door earlier. He slowly made his way to the stairs that lead up to his and Mahad's room. He sighed in relief when he peeked into Mahad's room and saw the man asleep in his bed. It might've only pushed off his punishment for breaking curfew until tomorrow, but maybe Mahad wouldn't remember it. Right.

Turning around and walking into his room, Malik threw his backpack onto his desk chair, stopping when he saw a neatly folded piece of paper on his desk. Groaning and letting his head fall down, Malik reached forward and opened it. The one word written on it proved to him that Mahad wouldn't forget and he wouldn't be breaking curfew anytime soon. _Grounded. _He crumbled the paper and threw it in his trash bin and fell backwards onto his bed. And thought about how he came around to getting here.

He and Isis had been pretty bad off when their father had been arrested and they had had no way to pay the bills. Then, out of nowhere, a man named Pegasus, a leader of a well-off gang, came along and offered them enough money to last them a lifetime. The catch? Isis had to marry him. The woman had agreed, if only so that her brother would be provided for, even if she had to give up ever getting together with her love.

Mahad had promised Isis that he would look over Malik, but the boy knew it was probably just because he wanted to stay connected to Isis in some way. Mana, Mahad's apprentice in shadow magic, had gone with Isis, so that each had a protector who knew magic. Even though his friends had met both Mahad and Mana, none of them knew how much power they held inside their bodies. Oh yes, Malik knew about shadow magic, probably too well. He shifted onto his side, not wanting to lay on his back for obvious reasons. As his eyes drifted closed, his thoughts moved to the symbols that had been carved into his back with a hot knife, by his own father. They spoke of shadow magic and the summoning of monsters through such magic in hieroglyphics, having been written before they had come to Japan, when they still lived in Egypt. His friends didn't know about the scars, and he vowed they never would. He didn't need their pity, especially if they learned how far Malik's father had actually gone. He hadn't just hit Malik, he had taken the one thing he could have given the one he loved.

Malik shivered. Well, he was far from a virgin now. Blame his upbringing, but Malik was a playboy and didn't mind it one bit. When he was together with someone, man or woman, he was able to forget, if just for a minute, the memories he carried with him. And if his partner in bed thought the scars on his backs were just strange Egyptian tattoos, he just let them keep thinking that, knowing there weren't many in Japan who could read hieroglyphics, and he most definitely hadn't slept with anyone who could.

Maybe, one day, he would be able to find someone who could make the pain of his past go away forever…

With that thought, Malik tumbled into a deep sleep, not waking up until his alarm clock went off for school the next morning.

* * *

Marik was bored. And that was never a good thing. He stared with a blank expression at the board, where the teacher was writing down notes about something that had to do with math. Or science. Or history. He wasn't really sure what class they were in. The week had flown by and Marik wasn't sure if Malik, because all it took was simple questions to a few squealing girls to learn his name, was avoiding him or not. It was already Friday and they hadn't spoken once, and every time Marik tried, the boy was either distracted or surrounded by other girls and boys.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as an idea came to his mind. Scribbling something down on a piece a paper, he tore it out of his notebook and folded it, holding it out to his left. "Hand this one desk over."

The dirty blonde, for his worth, narrowed his eyes, even though he had been far from paying attention himself. Rolling his eyes, he yanked the paper from Marik's outstretched ones and tossed it over onto the desk of the delicious lilac-eyed one.

Malik opened it carefully, reading the note with an amused look, taking in the sloppy Japanese of someone who obviously didn't write in the mix of kanji and hiragana often. _Hey, I don't think we've properly met. My name is Marik, and yours? _Marik. Malik had seen the boy walking around school and there was something about him that pulled at Malik, and he was scared as to what that meant.

Writing a short response, he handed it back to Joey, who gave him an annoyed look, but handed the note over anyway.

Marik smirked as he received the note back. _Malik. _Well, he had been hoping for more of an answer, but he could do some more prodding.

_What are you doing today, Malik-kun? _Malik's eyebrows rose to his hairline as he read the next note. Was someone actually flirting with him? It was usually the other way around. Malik smiled lightly and wrote down a response.

Hearing an exasperated huff from-his name was Joey, right?-next to him, Marik smirked as the note was deposited on his desk. _As a matter of fact, nothing. Do you have anything specific planned? _The smirk widened and Marik wrote down another note, handing it back to Joey, who had given up trying to tell them to stop by glaring and was just going along, passing the piece of paper back and forth, wondering if the teacher would ever notice.

Malik took the note, wanting to see the answer more than he probably should. _Yeah. You and I are going to a movie. _Malik's heart fluttered and he smiled, leaning over to look around Joey into dark purple eyes. He nodded his head slightly, noticing how those gorgeous eyes upturned a bit and Marik's shoulders lifted, before he turned back to the teacher. Suddenly, he couldn't wait for the end of the day.

* * *

Ryou rushed out of the door as soon as the bell rang at the end of the day, knowing his friends would understand that he had an early shift today and had to rush to make it in time. Joey stared after the boy for a minute before he turned around in his seat, to ask what Yugi was doing after school, but was surprised to see him talking with Yami. Shrugging, and leaving the boy to his business, he would learn about it later anyway, he turned to talk to Malik, but sighed when he saw that he was talking to Marik. Rolling his eyes, he stood and resigned himself to walking home alone. Maybe he could get Seto to pick him up…

Yugi stiffened when he felt someone tapping on his shoulder as soon as the bell rang. 'Oh, Kami, no. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-'

"Your name is Motou Yugi-san, right?" Yugi closed his eyes as a deep voice resonated from behind him. He reluctantly turned around, a weak smile plastered on his face. It hadn't helped that last night he had dreamed of this man. They had been laughing in some kind of ancient kitchen with, strangely enough, Mana. It would have been an easy dream to shake off if it hadn't seemed so real and the man he was looking at so closely resembled the man in his dream.

"Yes, that's me." He avoided looking into the man's eyes, having already seen the ruby eyes that were so much like his dead boyfriend's. "Can I help you?"

Yami faltered, watching Bakura and Akefia leave together, while Marik left with a platinum blonde, his hand draped around his waist. He hadn't actually thought past this part, he had just wanted to see what Yugi looked like, and boy, was he surprised. Those shimmering amethyst eyes tugged at his soul and though his hair was like his own, there were subtle differences, like the forelock that dangled adorably over his forehead, or the soft bangs, unlike Yami's jagged ones, that just tempted Yami to brush them with his fingers. "I-Hello, my name is Kage Yami." He had to resist the urge to bang his head on the table. 'He already knows that, you Ra-forsaken dummy! You introduced yourself to the class at the beginning of the week!'

For Yugi's worth, he did give a slight giggle. "Nice to meet you, Kage-san." He looked over Yami's skin, trying to decipher where the man was from. However, even though there was a slight tan to the man's skin, nothing that could compare to Atem's, his skin was pale, more like his, and he couldn't figure it out. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?"

Though the boy had yet to meet his eyes, Yami smiled at the question, glad the boy had started a conversation. Gesturing to the skin that he had noticed Yugi examining, he snorted lightly before answering. "Believe it or not, Egypt."

"Really?!" Yami blinked as the seemingly shy boy instantly perked up. "You're from Egypt? That's amazing!" The man admired Yugi's ivory skin as the boy sighed dreamily. "I've always wanted to go there."

Yami smiled, coming up with an idea. "I'd be happy to answer any questions you'd like."

That, apparently, was the right thing to say. "Arigatou!" Yugi smiled brightly and stood up, offering a hand to Yami. "My grandfather and I live in a game shop, we can hang out there-" Yugi blushed at his forwardness and shyly met Yami's eyes for the first time, trying not to gasp as he lost himself in the pools of red, so much like his boyfriend's, but shockingly different, they had a different tone, more like captivating jewels or wine than the blood-red of those he had fallen in love with. "Th-that is if you want to, o-of course, Kage-san."

Yami smirked at the flustered teen, which only seemed to make him blush more. "I would love to go with you. And, please call me Yami."

"K-Kay." Yugi let his hand drop and turned around, starting to walk out of the room, Yami trailing behind him, that is, until Yami caught up with the smaller teen. Ignoring the stiffening form next to him, Yami wrapped his arm around Yugi's shoulders, pretending to be completely casual and acting like it was something he did every day. In reality, his heart was pounding loudly at the contact, and he was beyond thrilled that Yugi didn't move away as they walked to his house.

* * *

Ryou moved around the tables, removing plates and wiping the empty tables down before putting the dishes in the sink, so he could wash them later. A co-worker sneered at him and told him to clean up two tables that he must have missed. He hated this. Ryou knew that his family would have wanted him to use the life insurance money he had received after the accident, but he was saving that for college, he didn't want to waste something like that. In fact, he didn't want to touch the money at all, but college would cost so much…

He didn't notice two pairs of eyes watching, one purple and the other a brown not so different from his own.

Maybe it was because he was distracted about the dream he had last night, but he worked through almost the entire shift without noticing that he was being examined. He had had the strangest dream. Ever. He had dreamt he was in a desert, leaning against a palm tree, with Yugi curled up to a man that looked strangely similar to Atem, but with small differences. There was a frustrated sigh and he'd heard some shuffling before someone plopped down next to him. He hadn't been able to look up and see who it was, but his dream-self seemed to know who he was, comfortably snuggling up to the person. Just before the dream ended, when his dream-self had tilted his head up to place a soft kiss on the man's cheek, Ryou had caught the sight of familiar chopped white hair, and hoped with all his might he hadn't just dreamed about Bakura.

It wasn't until five minutes before his shift ended that he found out that the student he was thinking about was there. Carrying a small bucket holding dish water and a towel that he would use to wipe down tables, he walked around the restaurant, and didn't see the foot placed out in front of him at the last minute. Ryou yelped as he fell forward, the water splaying forward and splashing onto a man wearing a suit. Ignoring the snickering from the table of teens beside him, even though there were tears in his eyes and his ears were burning red, he stood up from his knees and bowed to the water-soaked customer, mumbling apologies for his clumsiness.

"You had better be sorry!" Ryou squeaked as the front of his uniform was gripped and he was brought to stare into cold eyes. "This is Armani! Do you know how much this cost?" Ryou timidly shook his head and whimpered as he was thrown to the ground, noticing in the back of his mind that the group of teenagers that had tripped him had left. "You imbecile!" The man drew back his foot for a kick, and Ryou wondered for a minute why none of co-workers were helping him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Ryou looked up from the floor, where he had resigned himself to his punishment, and saw two albinos standing over him protectively. He blushed when one of them turned and winked one of his purple eyes at him, remembering his name as Akefia, and got up to stand timidly behind the two.

"This boy ruined my suit! Are you saying that he shouldn't be punished?"

Bakura smirked at the man. When he and Akefia had stumbled into their shared room last night, they had been surprised to find that it was in some state of neatness. When he asked around, the maids had told them that his mother had paid a high school student to clean their room, because he had forbidden the maids from doing so. It irked him to no end, but he almost laughed out loud when he found out that the high school student Bakura's mother had hired was none other than the one he had been admiring before during school. "I'm saying that it would be in your best interest not to harm the boy. It wouldn't do to cause a scene in the middle of a restaurant, would it?"

Akefia made a point of looking around, taking in the poorly hidden cellphone cameras that were filming this, knowing that if this got to the press, the man's reputation would be ruined. "We suggest you leave while you're ahead." He hadn't know what had Bakura so drawn to the small boy behind him, but after seeing those wide, captivating orbs of chocolate, he was given a small idea.

The man scowled, and after glaring at the cowering Ryou one last time, left in a storm of muttered curses. Ryou sighed and shyly met the eyes of the two men who had turned around to face him. "Th-thank you…um, my name is Bakura Ryou."

Akefia's eyes flicked over to Bakura's at the name for a minute before he looked back over the blushing boy. "Don't mention it." He reached over and wrapped an arm around Ryou's waist, pulling him against his chest. Ryou's breath hitched and his eyes went wider, appearing to take up half his face. "Any time." Their noses were barely an inch apart and Ryou had a huge blush on his face. "My name is Dorobo Akefia." Ryou shivered as air brushed against his lips, barely registering the words.

"And I'm Senshi Bakura, but I bet you already knew that, my little maid." Ryou squeaked as arms wrapped around him from behind, and started playing with the front hem of his uniform. He swallowed roughly, trying to think clearly with two very appealing males on either side of him, and was saved by his boss.

"Bakura-san! Your shift might have ended, but I'd prefer it if you and your boyfriends took it outside."

"What!" Ryou practically screeched, squirming from Bakura and Akefia to stare in dismay at his boss. "They aren't my boyfriends!" Seeing his boss already in the kitchen, he sighed and turned back to the amused men with a scowl, well, more of a pout. "You did that on purpose."

"And we loved every minute of it." Akefia swayed up to Ryou and wrapped an arm around his waist, lightly brushing his lips against the shell of Ryou's ear. "Come back to our house."

Ryou shivered and blushed again. "I-I really sh-should be getting back home-"

Another arm wrapped around his waist and left no room for argument. "You're coming to the house." Bakura smirked as Ryou stuttered for a minute before reluctantly nodding his head and letting the two lead him down the road. This was going to be fun.

* * *

Yugi laughed as Yami told another story of how Bakura, Akefia, and Marik had all gotten into trouble back in Egypt. After bombarding the man with questions about all the different sights there, Yug had relaxed enough to find he was actually enjoying Yami's company.

Grandpa Motou had introduced himself before exiting to watch over the shop, leaving with a wink that made Yugi's face burn red and Yami chuckle. He was also enjoying spending time with Yugi, surprised to find that the boy was a well-recognized Duel Monsters champion.

They had immediately begun a duel, each having their decks, since both carried them around everywhere, though for different reasons. For Yugi, they were a sense of comfort, he and Atem had dueled together all the time, and for Yami they were a last resort if he was ever attacked, the cards providing assistance when he summoned from the Shadow Realm.

Yami had disarmed Yugi with hilarious stories, making him an open book to see through. Yugi, however, had his own tactics to play in the game that was quickly becoming the most fun he had had in a long time.

Smiling sweetly at Yami and blinking wide eyes, Yugi laid down a facedown trap, before signaling that his turn with a small wink. Yami's cheeks dusted pink before he pushed down the uncharacteristic blush and tried to focus on his cards instead of the delicious specimen in front of him. He was already having enough trouble reminding himself not to summon the mini monsters he used when playing against Marik or the others, and with every move, Yugi was making it harder and harder for him not to pounce the boy.

He attacked, blinking in shock as Yugi giggled and activated a trap that Yami wasn't aware he had laid down. He frowned a little, but forgot about the game for a minute as he looked up into Yugi's beautiful eyes.

Yugi gasped and the cards in front of him faded as his eyes met with ruby ones, mesmerized. Not realizing they had been leaning forward, Yami and Yugi slowly moved together over the table they were playing on. Yugi's grandfather calling from downstairs broke the trance, and the two jerked apart, both realizing how close they had been to kissing.

Yugi licked his lips and looked away, clearing his throat nervously. He laughed a little and gestured over to the TV, no longer interested in finished this duel. "How about we watch a movie, Yami-kun?" Kami, how could he be so stupid? What would Atem have said if he saw him, flirting over a card game and almost kissing another man? It made him feel ashamed just thinking about it.

Yami nodded, not trusting his mouth to speak and cleaned up his cards in unison with Yugi.

An hour and a half later, Yami was dozing lightly while holding Yugi softly, who was asleep in his arms. Their heads leaned together and Yami didn't notice the rebelling shadows that surrounded them for just a second when their foreheads touched as he fell asleep.

* * *

Ryou, wearing an old t-shirt and a pair of jeans of Bakura's, shrieked with laughter and squirmed on the couch as the man leaned over him, attacking his stomach. "Bakura-san! Haha! S-stop! Akefia-san make him sto-hahaha!" Bakura smirked and kept at his attack. Akefia watched from the sidelines, not used to seeing Bakura so soft, and looked over at the discarded game of Monopoly they had been playing.

Hearing a whimper, Akefia looked back over at the couch and his eyebrows rose. There, making out right in front of him, was timid little Ryou and his Bakura. Bakura straddled the boy and gripped his wrists, pushing them into the couch as he moved his lips against Ryou's.

Ryou, who had accidently brushed his lip against Bakura's when he was being tickled, had been unprepared for the resulting attack that Bakura made on his lips, but had easily melted when a tongue licked against his lips. It just felt so _right_. He whimpered a little as Bakura's tongue drew out of his mouth, and slowly, with much coaxing, moved his own tongue into Bakura's mouth.

If he hadn't been pinned down by Bakura, he would've jumped right off the couch at a very loud cough from the chair next to him. Remembering where he was, and who he was kissing, Ryou pushed Bakura off him to sit up with a huge blush on his face, staring at the table but looking at the man's boyfriend out of the corner of his eye.

"I hate feeling left out." Ryou blinked and looked over to see Akefia leering over at the two.

Bakura snorted and wrapped an arm around Ryou's shoulders, pulling the boy closer to him. "Have you considered that we might not want you in our fun?"

"Wh-what?" Ryou stuttered, nervously looking between the two boys. "But, I-I thought that you two…" Ryou blushed. "I mean, that you guys had…"

Akefia stood up and joined the two on the couch, sitting on the other side of Ryou. "Ever heard of a three-some, Ryou-chan?"

Ryou's face turned even redder and he closed his eyes in as he tried to get _that _picture out of his head. When he opened them again, he was shocked to see Bakura and Akefia kissing in front of him, Ryou swallowed harshly as Akefia moved the arm that wasn't wrapped around him to grip the side of Bakura's face and change the angle of the kiss. Ryou tried to hold back the moan that was coming up, but he knew he hadn't been successful when Akefia and Bakura broke from their kiss and smirked at Ryou.

"It seems that little Ryou doesn't like to be left out either." Akefia brushed a piece of hair behind Ryou's ear. "Would you like to join us, Ry?"

If Ryou noticed the use of the nickname, he didn't mention it. He stammered and blushed, looking down at his fidgeting hands on his lap. "I-I, well, I just met you and I don't know you very well, and I've never-I mean-I can't just-"

"We understand, Ryou." Bakura smirked. "That just means we have to get to know you better." He buried his head in Ryou's neck, ignoring the squeak. "Not that I mind."

Akefia moved away from Ryou, sensing he wanted space and gestured to the table. "How about we try and finish this game?" Ryou nodded and Bakura moved over a little, picking up the dice.

Two hours later, Ryou had gone bankrupt and was slowly falling asleep. He jerked his head up once again as it fell down, and he held back a yawn, trying to pay attention as Akefia slowly took over the board. A few minutes later, and his head was resting against Bakura's shoulder, his eyes closed and his breathing even.

Akefia snickered as Bakura glanced down at the boy, a perplexed look on his face. "Looks like he fell asleep." He gathered up the game pieces and put them back in the box, standing up and stretching. "How about we turn in?"

Nodding his head and gently moving his arms around Ryou to pick him up, Bakura stood up, giving a small frown when Ryou sighed and curled into his chest. Akefia's mouth twitched and he quickly turned around, walking up the stairs to their room so he wouldn't laugh.

Bakura followed, and when they reached their room, gently set Ryou on the bed and lay down beside him. Akefia took the other side of the bed and wrapped his arms around the two. Shadows swarmed for just a moment as Akefia and Bakura bent their heads to touch Ryou's in their sleep.

* * *

Malik moaned against a pair of harsh lips as hands grappled his bottom through his pants. A tongue found its way into his mouth and he let himself be led to a large, plush bed.

Even though they had been planning to go to the movies, the two hadn't seemed to be able to keep apart, and had ended up tangled together before they had even left the schoolyard. Malik couldn't help but be impressed by the large mansion that Marik had ordered the limo to take them to, leaving behind two very annoyed albinos, but that wasn't what was he was focusing on right now.

Marik broke the kiss and dragged his tongue up Malik's neck, watching his chest heave as he tried to catch his breath. He felt hands slide up his shirt and smirked, moving to Malik's belt. Malik's mouth formed a delicious 'o' as he quickly unbuttoned it and slipped his hand into the boy's pants. Marik pulled Malik into another kiss as his hand slowly stroked Malik's member.

Malik wondered what he was doing. Here he was, squirming underneath a man he just met, and enjoying every moment of it. He never did this. Sure, he had been with people before, quite a few actually, but he knew those people, went to school with them. This man, who could make his toes curl in delight from a single touch, made his heart beat in a way that scared him.

Malik barely even noticed when Marik removed their clothes, just riding the feelings the man hovering over him was giving that were sending his nerves into hyper-drive. Marik reached over to grab a bottle of lube from his bedside table drawer and poured some on fingers.

**LEMON STARTS HERE!**

Marik inserted one of the lube-coated fingers into Malik, smirking as the boy gasped and squirmed even more. Malik quickly adjusted, and soon there were three fingers in side him, making him arch his back as they moved around inside him.

"Ra!" Quirking an eyebrow at the exclamation from the supposed Japanese boy, Marik marked the spot he had just hit in his mind, remembering it for later.

Malik whimpered as the fingers moved out of, already wishing for the feeling of being filled. The man above him was eager to comply. After putting a generous amount of lube on his throbbing erection, hissing as the cold gel met him, he looked over to see Malik watching with half-lidded eyes. He smirked and positioned himself, the smirk growing when Malik spread his legs willingly and gripped Marik's hips in a commanding manner.

He slid into the boy and took in the silky hair he had been admiring before as it splayed across a pillow when Malik threw his head back with a cry. Malik's grip tightened for a moment before his hands moved to Marik's shoulders, and then man jerked in shock as he was pushed back into the bed.

The boy, although Marik guessed that word didn't fit Malik too well, above him lifted his hips up, his eyes never leaving Marik's, and slammed down. Both men groaned and the two set a frantic pace together that had both reaching their peak at an alarming speed.

Watching Marik through half-lidded eyes, Malik rode him harshly, moaning loudly as Marik raised his hips at the same time he came down, causing the man to bury himself in even deeper. He leaned forward and gripped the bed sheets as Marik hit a spot inside him that made his mind explode in pleasure. His body quivered as he tried not to collapse from the feeling and to keep up the pace even though he couldn't see straight. Marik smirked and kept lifting his hips towards that spot at the same time Malik came down, relishing the moans and pants from above him.

Malik screamed first, his body shaking and slamming down harder than before as he hit his prostate and came at the same time. Marik moaned loudly, jerking up and pouring his seed inside the tight body above him.

**LEMON ENDS HERE!**

Malik collapsed next Marik, exhausted and content, his eyes closing immediately to fall asleep. However, Marik wasn't so quick to rest.

Wrapping an arm around the man sleeping next to him, he pulled Malik closer and tangled their legs together. Malik sighed happily and curled into the chest in front of him, not really considering why Marik would stiffen when the man's hands ran over his bare back.

Marik peered over Malik's shoulder in curiosity, his eyes widening at seeing hieroglyphics carved into the boy's back. Flipping Malik over, ignoring the newly awoken protests, he stared at the writing, taking in the mentions of shadow magic and of the duel monsters used to fight in ancient days.

"Malik-chan? What is this?" Marik relished in being able to use that honorific with Malik, knowing what it meant to lovers, but he focused on the scars.

Not fully understanding what had him so concerned, and still thinking Marik couldn't read it-what were the chances that the man could read hieroglyphs?-Malik gave a small, nervous laugh. "I-It's a cool tattoo, right? I, uh, I got it when I lived back in Egypt."

Marik's eyes narrowed at the lie. "That isn't like any tattoo I've ever seen. Malik." He met lilac eyes as he tried to figure out just how much Malik knew. "I'm from Egypt. And I was taught to read hieroglyphics at a young age."

Giving a startled cry, Malik jumped up and reached for his shirt on the edge of his bed, but is stopped by a strong hand on his wrist. "Who did this to you, Malik?" There was a harsh edge to Marik's voice, and Malik had to wonder why the man cared so much.

Unable to hold the fierce gaze anymore, he looked down at his arm, which was still gripped in Marik's hand. He ignored the question and tried to brush away Marik's attention. "It's nothing. Just gibberish. It means nothing." He wouldn't let loose that magic was real, it would put Mana and Mahad in danger.

Not sure if Malik was telling the truth, Marik considered the risks of telling him that he had that very shadow magic that was scarred on his back by some bastard that Malik obviously didn't want to talk about. If Malik was lying, then he knew about Shadow Magic and might actually be a user, and the man had to wonder if he did have power, did he abuse it? If Malik was telling the truth, then who knows how he'll take the information that magic does exist.

Scowling, and deciding to remain silent, he leaned back and patted the spot next to him, watching as Malik reluctantly joined him. As soon as the smaller blonde had fallen asleep, Marik touched his forehead to Malik's, and calling a small amount of shadows, he too slipped into unconsciousness, planning on getting some answers. It only occurred to him later that it shouldn't have been that easy to slip into Malik's soul room.

* * *

**SW: WAAAH!  
Bakura: *covering ears* What the hell is wrong with her?  
Yugi: She dropped her phone…**

**SW: WHY DID THIS HAPPEN TO ME?!**

**Marik: I don't see how this is such a big deal.**

**Ryou: She kinda dropped it in water and now it won't turn on.**

**Yami: Did you try rice?**

**SW: Yes! And my phone won't work! *sniffle* That has my life saved on it!  
Malik: Meaning her music.**

**SW: WAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAA!**


	4. Soul Rooms

**SW: *sniff***

**Yugi: Better?**

**SW: Yeah…I kinda just…I don't know…**

**Malik: It's weird. You haven't really written anything in like four days.**

**Bakura: *scoff* Your phone really meant that much to you?**

**SW: Thank heavens for Pandora (don't own) or I would have died from lack of music.**

**Thank you to IlluminatedWord (I'm happy the chapter made you happy **** I'm glad you like the Bronzeshipping…and I have had to find new ways to listen to music because I can really only write when I'm listening to it), snow-kim (Yeah! Everyone is together! ;) You'll just have to wait to see if Isis will have and keep a baby!), samaurai (I'm sure Yugi'll be able to let go of the past ;)), takininja13 (Haha thanks, I didn't realize how music meant until I didn't have my phone), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (I'm glad you liked the Bakushipping! Hehe I hope you like this chapter too), and JapanT'sTheName (OMR I loved your review(s)! They made me squeal! I am so happy that you like my writing! My style has most definitely changed since I started and I'm glad people like it! My update schedule is Wednesday and Sunday BTW ;). I know how you feel about yaoi lol I'm Roman Catholic and we don't actual 'support' gays and all that, but hey, my mind works in weird ways. I am so happy that you like my writing! Thank you!) for reviewing! Holy crap…if you guys hadn't noticed, the longer the review, the longer the response, and JapanT'sTheName most definitely takes the cake.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Yami blinked in shock as he woke up in a shadowed hallway, instantly recognizing the door to his soul room. Why he had materialized _outside_ of the door decorated with an Eye of Wdjat was a question in itself, and Yami's brow furrowed when he saw a pure white wooden door across the hall from his dark metal one.

Walking up to it, he placed a hand on the doorknob, surprised to feel a rush of welcoming run through him. Opening it slowly, he took in the carpeted floor covered in games and puzzles, mostly Duel Monsters cards. An entire wall was covered in different instruments, some on shelves, others leaning against it. He could tell that music held an important part in Yugi's life. The walls were painted in a piercing shade of white, and Yami couldn't help but bask in the purity of this room.

However, in one corner, there was a small speck of darkness, hovering lightly over a table holding three pictures. He walked over, careful not to make any sounds that would disturb the sleeping boy in the bed on the other side of the room. How he had been transported here without his knowing, he had no clue, but he didn't have any doubts that this was Yugi's soul room.

Two of the pictures were covered in a small amount of dust, Yugi must have moved on recently. He didn't touch the pictures, knowing that even a small change to the soul room could cause huge problems. He knelt in front of the table, squinting past the dust to see one picture containing two blurred people holding onto each other. Yugi did live with his grandfather, maybe these were his parents? The other picture held the same people, but this time appeared to be swinging a small boy between them. Even through the dust and the blurred picture, Yami was able to tell that the child was Yugi. The family they would never have together?

The last picture caused Yami to frown. It was definitely more recent. And there was a clarity about it that seemed to cause the picture to shimmer, like it was covered in tears. Yami took in the smirking man in the photo, noticing the similarities between him and the man. Was this the Atem everyone compared him to on the first day? What did Yugi feel for him?

Yami heard a small scream and he turned around just in time to see two small hands throw a blanket over star-shaped hair. His mouth quirked in a smile as he saw a familiar body curled up under the blankets on the twin-size bed.

"Hello, Yugi."

Two amethyst eyes peeked out from the blanket and stared wide-eyed at the man in front of him. "Y-Yami-kun? What are you doing in my room?"

"Good question, Little One." It still confused him to no end that he had appeared outside Yugi's soul room, he had used no magic that he knew of, but then again the shadows had a mind of their own and were often known to work by themselves when they truly wanted something to happen. What he wondered about the most was that his own soul room was connected to Yugi's.

Yugi crawled out of the blankets with a pout, wearing blue pajamas covered in stars. "I'm not that little!" He looked around and was surprised not to see the familiarity of his own room. "Where are we?"

Yami walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, pretending not to notice the way Yugi blushed. "Your soul room. A visual representation of what's inside you."

Yugi looked around with wide eyes and nodded his head. Both lost themselves in their own thoughts as they each examined the room around them. He moved his hand to his arm and pinched himself. Yami whipped his head around at the yelp and had to stop himself from laughing when he saw a pouting Yugi, rubbing the sore place on his arm. "Ok, so I know I'm not dreaming."

Yami rolled his eyes and Yugi's pout grew. "Hey! You can't blame me! This is some crazy stuff here!" He felt a rush of happiness run through him as he stared at Yami as he shook his head back and forth.  
"Oh, Little O-" Yami is cut off as Yugi leaned forward and pressed his lips to his.

Yugi blinked as he stared into Yami's eyes before jerking his head back and covering his lips. "I'm sorry! I don't even know why I did that!"

"It's-It's alright, Yugi." He had enjoyed that way more that he should have. He just met Yugi for crying out loud!  
Yugi shook his head and looked over to the table holding the pictures and Yami followed his stare. Yami could figure out which one in particular Yugi was looking at. "Yugi, who's Atem?"

At the mention of the name, Yugi's entire demeanor changed. His shoulders slumped and tears filled his eyes. "He was-was my boyfriend."

_Great. _Yami cringed and bit the inside of his cheek. "Was?"

"He d-died in a car accident. He saved my life." Yugi sniffled and stared at his hands.

Yami looked over at Yugi from the corner of his eyes. "How long ago?"

"Almost a year. The anniversary is in a month." Yugi brought his knees up and hugged them to his chest. "I don't know how I'll get through it."

Yami's heart panged and he moved to his hands and knees, tilting his head so he could look up into Yugi's eyes, which had been staring at the bed in front of him. "You don't have to go through it alone, you know."

Yugi opened his mouth a little to give a small response, but the sounds died in his throat as Yami covered his mouth with his own. Yami slid his tongue into Yugi's mouth, listening to the following mewl. He withdrew after a minute and stared at a dazed Yugi, who moved a hand to touch his lips tenderly. "Let me help you, Yugi."

Yugi licked his lips, surprising himself with the thought that he missed the taste of Yami. Flicking his eyes once more to the table with Atem's picture, he thought about what Yami had said. What would Atem want him to do? He missed the man, but he would never get him back. When was it time to move on? Was he ready for that?

Swallowing against the lump in his throat, Yugi slowly nodded his head. He met Yami's eyes to see him smiling. Yami took his hand and lay down on the bed, pulling Yugi with him and making sure that his back was to the pictures.

He placed a tender kiss on Yugi's forehead before he rested his head on the pillow, smirking at the blush that had appeared on Yugi's face. "Good night, Yugi."

"Good night, Yami-…chan."

* * *

Marik's brow furrowed when he found himself in a hallway. Where was he? That spell should have transported him to Malik's soul room, and he had encountered no barriers that would have dropped him off somewhere else. His eyes widened when he saw two doors, on either side of the hallway, one a beautiful shade of purple, the other made of shining metal that Marik had always prided himself on.

Walking up to his door and opening it quickly to peer inside, Marik took in the squirming shadows and bondage instruments. Yep, this was definitely his room, but whose was…

Marik closed his door with and turned around with a scowl. He walked determinedly up to the second door and opened it, walking into the room without a second thought. What he saw stopped him in his tracks.

Beautifully painted sand and sky, almost realistic, covered three of the walls, and Marik could just barely feel a hot breeze that had accompanied many of the days he had spent in Egypt. The last wall was something that confused the man, though. It was completely black, the solid coloring contrasting deeply with the blue and light brown of the other walls. There was absolutely nothing on it, as if someone had forcefully removed that wall from their memory. He turned towards the bed that was on the opposite wall and smirked.

Malik was splayed out on his stomach, his head buried into his pillow with only a thin sheet covering him. However, the sheet had fallen down and his bare back greeted Marik. The smirk on his lips faded as he took in the disheveled form panting on the bed, as if in pain. His mouth turned in a frown as he took in the angry red lines, some still having scabs, on Malik's back, looking much newer and a lot more painful than the scars he saw in the physical realm.

He crossed the room and placed a firm hand on Malik's shoulder. The form under him moaned and hands fisted sheets next to the pillow. "Go away, Mahad. I do not wish to speak with anyone right now."

The utterly defeated tone in Malik's voice contrasted greatly to the confident and cocky tone Marik had heard him speak with before. He scowled as he wondered what could have happened to cause this. Of course it had something to do with his back, but he doubted that it was just the scars that were affecting his lover's soul room so greatly.

"I am not Mahad."

Malik's entire body stiffened, and thinking Marik was someone else, quietly whimpered into the pillow. "Please, no."

Who did Malik think he was? "Malik, look at me."

Starting to shake, Malik turned his head to the side and reluctantly opened his eyes. Gasping, and the fear in his form disappearing, Malik turned on his side, hiding his back from Marik. He expertly hid the wince from the movement, though the man wasn't convinced. "Marik-chan? What are you doing here?"

"Who did that to you?" There wasn't evidence that Malik knew how to use shadow magic in his soul room, but that still left the question of why he had it scarred to his back.

Malik winced and looked around the room, his eyes widening. "How'd we get here?" Mahad had taken him to his soul room twice, once, when he had first learned about magic, and right after they had moved to Japan. He said it represented who he was, and explained that the wounds would probably always be fresh here. They were a huge part of what made him Malik. But how did Marik get in his soul room? Did he have shadow magic?

Scowling as Malik avoided the question yet again, Marik crossed his arms and looked down at him. "Answer the question, Malik."

He flinched and looked away, towards the black wall. "It used to be covered in pictures, you know."

"Huh?" Though he wanted to know the answer, Malik's statement threw him off balance.

Malik sighed and slowly sat on the edge of the bed, ignoring the twinges of pain that it caused. "I used to have pictures on that wall. Of my mother, my sister, even-even my father." At the mention of that man, Malik's hands fisted and he glared at the wall. "I guess I tore them down, probably in anger." Marik sat down next to him, turning sideways to watch as Malik scrunched up his face to keep in the tears. "They were full of memories, happy ones, and I never knew-I never knew that my father-that he was-he would…" As Malik's talking dissolved, Marik's worry grew.

"Malik, did your father do that to you?"

He launched himself at Marik's chest, making him fall onto the bed, his head at the bottom and his feet by the pillow Malik had just recently been burying his own head. Malik's shoulders shook with the struggle to keep in tears, but Marik knew he had lost when he felt his shirt dampen.

Marik wrapped his arms around Malik, but tensed when he heard the resulting hiss. Malik sat up, brushing the tears from his face and moving away. "S-sorry. I-I didn't mean to fall apart on you like that."

Realizing that he had accidently brushed across Malik's scars, Marik bit his lip and sat up next to him. "I didn't mind." He reached over and placed a hand on Malik's leg. "You can trust me, you can cry."

Malik gave a small, tear-filled laugh. "You don't mean that. I bet you think I'm weak and you just want me to stop crying about something that happened in the past that doesn't even matter anymore."

"Not true." Marik looked into Malik's eyes, suppressing the urge to hug the hurt look out of them, knowing that it would probably hurt him. "I don't think you're weak." He smirked. "I think you're beautiful, I like that your soul room has you only in boxers."

Malik sighed in relief. This was the Marik he knew, the one that always appeared half crazy and was always making comments that had an undertone of teasing. It gave him a sense of comfort and he smiled.

Grabbing at one of Marik's hands, Malik pulled a little before lying down and pointing to the spot next to him. Marik scowled and ignored the obvious command to fall down next to him. "Malik, you still haven't answered my question."

He closed his eyes and shivered, before he opened them and stared at Marik with shimmering eyes that looked one second away from pouring out with tears. "I promise I'll tell you everything, Marik, just…not tonight, okay?"

Marik considered it before nodding his head and moving to lie down next to Malik. "You had better, Malik. I have plenty of questions that need answers." 'And not just about your past, but I also still have no clue how much you know about shadow magic…you didn't seem all that surprised to be here.'

Malik nodded and gave a weak smile before he curled up into Marik, tangling their legs together. Marik resisted the urge to wrap his arms around him, knowing that it would probably hurt the boy, and rested his head just inches from Malik's as he fell asleep.

* * *

Akefia broke out into laughter as a groan erupted from the floor next to him. "You always were bad at landing." The groan turned to a growl and Akefia quickly ducked as Bakura leaped up and swiped his fist at him. "And aiming."

"Damn it, Akefia!" Akefia cackled again as Bakura glared at the hallway around them. "Why the hell are we here?"  
The man looked around, seeing the familiarity of the hallway that connected their soul rooms. "Maybe the shadows transported us here in the middle of the night, they've been known to do that before." He looked around, ignoring the grumbling beside him as Bakura rubbed his back. "Better question. Why is there a third door?"

Two of the doors Akefia knew belonged to him and Bakura, but he had no idea about the third door. The door was painted in royal blue, and contrasted greatly with his own, which was a dark purple, and Bakura's gray one. Akefia stiffened as the knob on the door turned and the door slowly opened.

Ryou timidly peeked his head out of the door, not sure where he was. He had woken up in an unfamiliar room, and though he had felt completely comfortable in the room and didn't want to leave, he knew he had to eventually.

Gasping, he flung the door open and smiled brightly at the two men standing in the hallway outside his room. "Hi! Bakura-san, I don't really remember this part of your house, where are we?"

Akefia blinked as light filled into the hallway, pushing the shadows back a few feet. "We aren't in his house anymore."

"Oh?" Ryou frowned in confusion and tilted his head to the side. "Then where are we?"

Bakura frowned, why were their soul rooms attached? Deciding to just come out with it, he glanced at Akefia for a moment before answering. "Our soul rooms, they're a representation of who we are. Technically we're in our own minds right now."

Ryou faltered before he laughed. "Oh, wow. You almost had me there, but no, really, where are we?"

"We're serious, Ry."

Ryou blushed at the nickname. "Ry?"

Akefia smirked and walked forward into Ryou's soul room, just barely brushing the boy but noticing the following shiver. "You didn't seem to mind it before." He watched as Ryou opened and closed his mouth, trying to come up with an answer, before turning and taking in the room.

It was painted in a light shade of blue, and if you didn't look hard enough appeared to be white. Pictures covered the walls, all shapes and sizes, and different styles, from sepia to color to black and white. In the center of the back wall, a queen-size bed covered in purple and brown sheets stood facing the door. All in all, it was a pretty simple room.

The man looked behind him at the squeak he heard Ryou make, and saw Bakura pulling away from a kiss and walking into the room behind him. Leaving behind a flustered Ryou, Bakura met Akefia's eyes and shrugged. "He was asking for it."

"I was not!" Ryou huffed, but didn't protest further as he watched the two men walk around the room, examining all the photos. He rolled his eyes, walked to the bed, and sat down on it, crossing his arms. "The pictures are mostly of my family, if you were wondering. Some of my friends. I don't know how I know that, but I do."

"You have a sister?" Bakura asked as he bent over to look at one that was just below eye level.

Ryou bit his lip and focused his eyes on a pillow on his bed. "H-had. She's-she's dead now."

Akefia looked over his shoulder sharply and saw Ryou struggling to hold back tears. He walked over to him and sat on the bed next to him, wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulder.

Ryou stiffened at the contact, but relaxed and let his head rest on Akefia's shoulder, sighing in happiness and letting his eyes fall closed when he felt another arm wrap around his waist. Bakura sat still for a minute before falling backwards, pulling Ryou, and in turn, Akefia, to lay down on the bed with him.

Akefia launched himself across at Bakura with a yell, and Ryou quirked an eyebrow, but moving out of the way as he watched the two wrestle. Easily putting Bakura in a chokehold, Akefia winked at Ryou, making him giggle. Bakura rolled his eyes and jerked his body backwards, which made Akefia knock his head against the headboard and loosen his grip as he blinked dazedly. He slipped out of the headlock and reached over to grab Ryou's wrist.

The boy squealed as he was pulled over to the two and landed on a pillow, Bakura collapsing next to him. Akefia recovered and wrapped his arms around Ryou from behind, not unlike how they were positioned in the real world.

The three rested for a minute and Ryou was starting to doze off as Bakura spoke up. "Sorry about bringing up your sister."

"S'okay. Night, 'Kura. Night, 'Kefia." Ryou giggled lightly and curled up closer to Bakura as both men reacted to their new nicknames. Bakura stiffened and huffed in annoyance, and Akefia just sighed and shook his head.

"If you can 'ave nicknames, so can I…" Ryou smiled and yawned, before he fell asleep.

Bakura made a face, but didn't say anything, in case he might wake up Ryou. He looked over and saw Akefia with his eyes already closed and his nose against Ryou's neck. Sighing, and knowing that he probably wouldn't get any say in the nicknames, he joined Ryou and Akefia in sleep.

* * *

**SW: This might've been a little bit of a filler.**

**Yugi: Not really, it'll be important next chapter!**

**SW: True that…**

**Please Review? (Fair Warning! I WILL NOT BE UPDATING THIS SUNDAY! I will be in Chicago and won't have time…sorry!)**


	5. Mind Links

**SW: Hehe, I'm loving this story!**

**Joey: *looking around in confusion* What am I doing here?**

**SW: *shrug* I couldn't think of anything for the introductions so I decided to just plop you in…I'm sure something will come up.**

**Joey: Nyeh?**

**Thank you to IlluminatedWord (Yeah…I guess Marik was a little OOC there…whoopsies. Glad you liked! And yeah, the hikaris always seem to have a tough time in my stories, don't they?), samaurai (Yeah, but since they're two separate people for this story I made them have separate rooms), JapanT'sTheName (I'm glad you liked it! I was a little nervous with Malik's and Ryou's rooms cause I had nothing to base off of, but I'm happy you liked it!), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Thank you for the trip wishes! Haha I had an amazing time! And hooray for puzzleshipping!), and alisha oneill (Don't worry! I don't plan on stopping writing anytime soon!) for reviewing!**

**Happy reading!**

}Bakura/Akefia to Ryou{

{Ryou to Bakura/Akefia}

/**Marik to Malik**/

\**Malik to Marik**\

/Yami to Yugi/

\Yugi to Yami\

* * *

Ryou woke up slowly, surrounded by warmth. He sighed and tried to keep his eyes closed, not wanting to wake up. But he lost his battle, and his eyes slowly fluttered open. Blushing at the sight of Bakura sleeping in front of him, Ryou tried to slowly slip away from him, but felt arms tighten their grip from behind and looked over his shoulder. Akefia's eyes moved under his lids in a dream, and he frowned, tightening his grip a little and making it all but impossible for Ryou to move. Sighing, Ryou relaxed again, letting his head drop on the pillow under him. If he was stuck he might as well get another hour of sleep in.

"Bakura! Akefia! Get up! It's almost noon and I'm having someone come in to clean-" Senshi-sama burst into the room, but halted when she saw not two, but three bodies in her son's bed. "Oh. I see he's already here."

Ryou blushed and struggled against the arms around him, trying to get away from the embarrassing position and affectively waking up Akefia and Bakura. He quivered at the glare coming from across the room, and all but melted into the security of Bakura's back as he wrapped an arm around him.

The woman's glare intensified and she crossed her arms, taking in the scene in front of her. "Leave it to me to hire a slut."

Ryou's eyes widened and he sat there, stunned, as Bakura and Akefia stiffened. Akefia sat up, bringing Ryou up as well with a steady hand on his hip. "I don't believe that we invited you into our room. So if you'll just leave us to our lovely-well, it was before you walked in-Saturday morning, I'm sure that-"

"Fine." Senshi-sama cut Akefia and swiveled on her heels, before stomping out of the room.

As soon as she left, Bakura started cackling. Taking in Ryou's still wide eyes, he smirked at the boy. "Don't worry about her. She's a bitch who likes to think that she can control my life."

Ryou nodded and crawled over to the side of the bed, missing the two leering glances sent his way. "Well, she said it was almost noon, so I might as well get started." He didn't say that the woman's words had struck home and he was struggling to keep from crying.

"Start what? Ry, you don't need to clean anything." Ryou looked back to the bed where Bakura and Akefia were lying next to each other. Akefia smirked at the boy wearing a wrinkled pair of Bakura's clothes. "It annoys that woman that we never have a neat room, and believe us, we like it when she's irritated and can't do anything about it."

"And we need to talk about last night."

Last night? Sure, Ryou had had a weird dream, but he couldn't think of anything they would need to talk about.

Akefia winced and Bakura brought a hand up to his head. "Wow. You think loud."

Ryou's eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" He sat on the edge of the bed and looked between the two.

}We mean that we could hear you think. And it was loud.{Ryou's eyes widened and he looked over to Akefia, blinking against the thought that he had just heard the man's voice _in his head_.

Bakura's voice came next. }Soul rooms are real, Ryou. And I think last night the shadows might have connected ours.{

Ryou sucked in a deep breath, trying to keep from screaming. "Wh-what?"  
"We have a mind link now." Knowing that Ryou was becoming overwhelmed, Akefia switched to speaking instead of using his mind link. "That's why we were able to visit your soul room last night."

"Oh." To say that Ryou was confused would be an understatement.

Bakura smirked. "Yes, and now we have a better way to get to know so we can move onto more…involved activities."

Ryou blushed and shook his head, frowning at the man disapprovingly. Akefia snorted and smiled at Ryou. "Frankly, I'd just like to get to know you better."

Akefia basked in the resulting hug Ryou leaped to give him, the frown turning into a bright smile. He looked over Ryou's head to smirk at Bakura, wrapping an arm around his waist and watching as Bakura grumbled and fell back onto his pillow, glaring at the ceiling.

Hearing the mumbling, Ryou moved from his position in Akefia's chest and leaned to press a small kiss on Bakura's cheek. He blushed and looked down at his lap, biting his lip as he wondered what had caused him to be so bold.

}I didn't mind.{ Ryou looked up at Bakura's voice, and smiled a little, and thought about what exactly he was getting himself into.

* * *

Ryou giggled as he felt Akefia yell at Bakura in his mind, though the words were lost on him, since they were spoken in a different language. Even though he was still shocked and was half expecting to wake up like this was all a weird dream, Ryou was starting to believe that what was happening was real. It helped that Akefia and Bakura had given him an example of their power, by summoning what they called their 'Ka monsters'. Akefia had something called Diabound and Bakura's was Man-eater Bug. He thought it weird that the two were both from Duel Monsters and when he brought it up the two had told him that the game had been based off shadow magic. Not overwhelming at all, not even the mind link part. Yeah, he was totally ok with it. Not freaked out at all.

Nope.

Taking a deep breath, Ryou made sure that he was keeping his barriers up around the things he didn't want those two to know. It was one of the first things they had taught him, and it definitely helped with protecting his sense of privacy. After two hours of learning more about them and giving them information about himself, Ryou decided that it was time to go.

He walked down the hallway, leaving behind the two arguing men, who were fighting using both the mind link and their voices. {You guys really should stop fighting. You're giving me a headache}. He giggled again as the yelling in his mind stopped almost immediately and happily stepped down the stairs. He reached the front hallway without any trouble and grabbed his uniform that he had left folded on the small table by the door.

Just as he was about to open the door to leave, a hand slammed down next to him. He jumped away and stared at the sadistic smile he saw on Bakura's mother's face.

"Hello, Ryou-san. Or is it Ry?"

Ryou shivered and looked to the stairs, where he knew Akefia and Bakura were. He raised up barriers around his entire mind, ignoring the confused probing sent his way and affectively cutting his boyfriends off from every thought he had. "S-Senshi-sama? What are-What are you doing?"

The woman's smile thinned and she leaned closer to Ryou as he shrank back. "You are going to tell Bakura and Akefia something. And then I don't ever want to see you around here or with my son or his boyfriend again." Senshi-sama only allowed those two together so that she had a way to get to Akefia's portion of his parent's company, so why should she let someone else into Bakura's life when it wasn't beneficial to her?

"What?" Ryou's heart stopped beating at the thought of never seeing Bakura or Akefia again. "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to tell them a little something that will make them realize just how undeserving you are. And you are going to agree with me, understood? I can make life _very _hard for you, understand? I know all about your family's little 'accident'. What would Bakura and Akefia do if they knew the truth?"

Ryou gasped and shook his head, taking a step back and blinking rapidly to hold back the tears. "You-You couldn't-You don't know-"

"Oh, but I do. I also know of all the trouble you went through in foster care. If none of them ever wanted you, why do you think Bakura and Akefia would?" Now _that _hurt. Ryou gasped again, this time against the sob in his throat, and he tried to keep the tears from leaking. "I am going to tell them that you tried to steal from us. And I'm going to kindly let you off. If you don't agree with me, I _will _press charges, and I have more than enough money to bribe the judge. Do you know how much bail costs, little boy? More than what you could afford. Bakura and Akefia will _never _want to be with you. Right now they're just playing with your feelings because it's amusing to them that a poor boy like you fell for them. Do you really want to keep letting them laugh at you behind your back?"

Hearing those words, something inside Ryou broke, as if he had just been waiting for someone to confirm his fears. Bakura and Akefia would never love him, they had everything, just like Senshi-san said. They had money, a huge home, and could get anything they wanted. They had each other. What did Ryou have? Absolutely nothing. No one had ever wanted him. And no one ever would.

Shaking his head, Ryou wiped at his eyes and calmly met Senshi-sama's. Well, if they were just playing with him, he would cut them off before he got any closer than he already was. He was sure that once they realized that he wasn't falling for their game, they would take away the mind link, and even though it just added another knife to his heart, he was willing to deal with that pain.

"Call them down."

Senshi-sama smirked and pulled away from Ryou. "Bakura! Akefia! Get down here!" Ryou had to give her credit for her acting, it actually sounded like she was scared.

After a moment, the two reluctantly trampled down the stairs, before stopping in surprise to see Ryou still in the house. "Ryou? What are you doing here?" Ryou stared at the floor in front of him, not wanting to look at Akefia when he knew what was going to happen.

"I just found this-this scoundrel attempting to steal from us! He was trying to take my jewelry! I saw it hanging out from his clothes and stopped him! I can barely believe it." As if to prove it, the woman pulled a necklace out of her pocket that Ryou was sure she had stashed in there earlier.

"Ryou?" Kami, why did Bakura have to sound like that? If he hadn't already known that they were just stringing him along, he might have actually believed that the man sounded hurt. "Is this true? Did you really do that?"

He risked looking up, and immediately ducked his head down again. Akefia, who had been looking at him with those piercing purple eyes, had an arm around Bakura's shoulders, and the man looked so confused, as if he couldn't understand what was happening. Ryou took a deep breath and snorted, starting his act and pulling on a mask that hid his pain. He looked up with sneer, but didn't meet either of their eyes, knowing he would crumble if he did. "Of course I did! You people are filthy rich! Here I am busting my butt every day and I bet you haven't worked a day in your lives!"

Senshi-sama looked impressed for minute before she too pulled on a mask, one that made her appear sincere and kind. "I have generously offered to not bring this to the police, with the promise that Ryou never comes near here again. I'm sure you boys will agree with me."

"Why didn't you just ask us for money if you were struggling? We could have helped you." Akefia…Thanks for acting like you care, but if you don't really mean it, why are you still trying? Ryou took one last glance at their faces before turning around to the door. Bakura had turned around, staring at the ground by the stairs, his shoulders hunched. Akefia was now the one to look confused and was gently prying at his barriers in his mind, but Ryou made sure that they were as strong as he could make them, effectively slamming Akefia out. He didn't even feel Bakura try.

He reached for the doorknob and took a shaky breath, tightening the grip he had on the clothes he had forgotten he was holding. "You think I would ask snobs like you for help? How could you possibly understand what I've been through?" With that he walked out the door.

As soon as he was far enough away, he started running, letting the tears fall out. He ran the rest of the home and shakily unlocked his door. Throwing his work uniform in the laundry room, he stumbled to his bedroom and fell onto his bed, curling into himself as sobs raked his body. Ryou's last thought before he fell asleep was that he had never felt so alone.

* * *

Malik groaned as a familiar ringtone sang out from his pants, which were resting on the floor next to the bed. He untangled his legs from Marik's and reached down to the floor to grab it. Pressing the talk button, Malik held it to his ear, only to jerk it away from his face as a loud voice carried over from the phone.

"MALIK ISHTAR! I have half a mind to track you down and drag you back by your ear! Do you have any idea what time it is?! We have to be there in an hour!"

Malik's sleep-fogged brain struggled to comprehend what was being said. He rubbed an eye and yawned, ignoring the mumbling next to him as Mahad's shouting woke up Marik. He put the phone back to his ear to try and muffle the yells. "Where?"

There was a sigh on the other line. "The jail, Malik. It's Saturday, remember? It's almost nine! You're going to be so late!"

He stiffened and looked over his shoulder to see hazy dark purple staring back at him. He turned around to stare straight ahead and bit his lip. "Oh, yeah. I-I'll be home in a few."

"You better!" With that, Malik hung up on Mahad and stood, gathering his clothes and pulling them on as he made his way to the door.

Marik narrowed his eyes at him. "Malik, was that your father?"

"What?" That caught Malik off guard. "No, of course not. That was a very good family friend. He's taking care of me since-" Malik cut himself off and shook his head. "Anyways, I need to go home."

Marik stood up and stretched. "And I'm coming with you."

"That's nice and all, but…" Malik smiled lightly and pulled his shirt on. "You don't have to, don't worry, my dad isn't there, he won't ever be." He failed to admit that he was going to see the man today.

Marik started to pull on his own clothes, smirking at Malik. "But you'll get home quicker in a car, which you don't have."

Malik grumbled and walked out the door, trying to ignore the fact that Marik was trailing behind him. He jumped in shock as a hand wrapped around his waist, before dipping down to the hemline of his pants. He looked up to see Marik staring straight ahead, but he could see the smirk playing on his face.

/**I know what you're thinking.**/

Malik jerked away from the man and stared in shock as he heard the man cackle in his mind. "The shadows did this last night, Malik, they gave us a mind link."

He swore under his breath and pushed up barriers that Mahad had taught him to build in case he ever met a shadow user who could read minds. Marik's eyebrows rose. "Impressive. I guess that answers my question on if you know about shadow magic."

Malik bit his lip and nodded, turning his gaze to the ground. "Don't tell anyone, okay? Some of my friends know how to use it and it would only put them in danger."

"Why would I tell anyone when I have shadow magic myself?" Marik ignored the shocked look from Malik and resumed his stroll down the hallway to the garage. "Don't we have to get you home?"

Malik blinked, before he smiled and ran after Marik. \**I guess we have a lot to talk about on the way.**\

/**Of course, Malik-chan.**/ If Malik was blushing at the comment he hid it well.

* * *

Malik stood behind Marik and Mahad, staring at the imposing building in front of him. If not for the fact that he was here, he would have found it comical that the two men on the front steps of the building were glaring at each other.

It had been even more amusing when the two had met, they had argued the whole ride to the jail and looked one step away from using shadows. Marik had insisted on coming, once he had learned where they were going, and Mahad had firmly stated that he didn't have any right to.

Of course, no one even _considered _to ask Malik how he felt, and he rolled his eyes before he walked forward and in between the two before they could start another argument.

He had already explained to Marik that the court required him and his sister to see his father every Saturday, something about giving the man a chance to reform. Marik had insisted that he go so that Malik wasn't alone in a room with him, even there would be bulletproof glass separating them and that would Mana would be there with him.

He heard the two of them pounding up the steps, each eager to catch up with him, but for different reasons. Malik knew that Mahad just wanted to see Isis again, and Marik, well, Marik was crazy, who knows why he would want to go into this hellhole.

Marik refused to leave Malik alone. This place was full of creeps and he had to make sure that they all understood that Malik was his and no one else could have him. He wrapped an arm around Malik, and glared at anyone looking too long as he made his way through the lobby.

"Isis!" Malik ripped himself away from Marik's grip, much to his disappointment, and launched himself at a woman standing with open arms. "I missed you so much! How are you?"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Another girl giggled from beside Isis and waved her hand at the two Malik had left behind. "Hello, Master Mahad! Who's this?"

"Oh!" Malik turned, but not enough to move away from the grip Isis had around his shoulders. "This is my…" A blush made its way across Malik's face and Marik didn't stop the thought that Malik looked absolutely delectable, and made sure he knew it through the link. The blush deepened and he struggled to fit his words into a comprehensible sentence. "boyfriend. Marik. He wanted-wanted to come."

Isis raised an eyebrow. "I see. And does he know everything?" The woman knew that Malik wouldn't give away that information lightly, and must have really fallen hard if he had.

"Yeah, I told him what happened." Malik left it at that, and the happy reunion turned somber. "And how that bastard judge is making me come here every week."

"Malik! Language!"

Malik ducked his head and smiled lightly as Isis scolded him, thinking about how he used to find it annoying before she had left. "But it's true."

Isis sighed and turned to Mahad, smiling at the man, mischief playing in her eyes. "And how's everything with you?"

"Just fine." Mahad smiled and shifted his eyes to Mana. "Look after Malik?"

Mana giggled and made a shooing motion with her hands. "Go have fun! I'll make sure the guards think that Isis was actually there." Mahad didn't need any further pushing, and reached over to grab Isis' wrist before dragging her away, the tinkling of her laughter drifting down the hallway before it disappeared completely.

Mana smiled at the remaining two and waved her hand, gesturing for them to follow. "Come on! I already checked in, all you have to do is spend half an hour here and then we can leave and spend the rest of the day together!" Malik smiled and nodded his head, even though he knew it wouldn't be possible.

Marik and Malik followed at a slightly slower pace than the skipping girl. "Is she always this hyper?" Marik leaned over to whisper to Malik, liking the option of brushing his lips over Malik's ear over using the mind link.

"You have no idea." Malik whispered back, leaning into Marik as they made it to a door guarded by two men.

They had a dazed look about them and opened the door absently, probably already having the spell that would make them thinking only Malik and Isis had gone into the room and no one else. Malik sighed as he saw the single chair in the visiting room, it was the one used for private viewings, but the jail used it for them because Malik's father was known to attacking fellow cellmates. Mana had taken up a protective position in the corner, and as he slid in the chair, he felt two strong hands grip the back of the chair. He smiled, knowing he was completely safe and protected.

Those thoughts faded from his mind as a man in handcuffs was escorted into the room and seated across from him. He stared into the dark violet eyes in front of him and tried not to shiver against the memories that they brought up. "Hello, Father."

The man sneered and looked his son up and down. "Hello, son. How are you?"

"Fine." He didn't care if he sounded cold. He just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. "I hope prison is as bad as I hear."

Marik blinked at the bitter tone. Sure, Malik had explained to him that his father was in jail and he knew that he was the one who scarred Malik's back, but it shocked him to hear Malik speak so harshly.

"Now, son. There's no need to be like that." The shiver he was holding back finally shook his body, but Malik didn't look away. He refused to give in to his fear. "You know that I meant no harm. To you or your sister."

Malik drew in a breath unevenly and gave a shaky sneer, still clinging to the hope that his fright wasn't showing as much as he thought it was. "You only want us to place bail."

At that, the man snapped. "With the money your slut of a sister got from marrying up, you can more than afford it! I don't see what I have done that requires me to be here! I was helping you!" His breathing quickened and he glared at his son, who was slowly sinking into his chair. "I know you don't use the money, so why not give it to me?! All I ever did was protect you!"

Malik sank further into his chair, forgetting everyone else in the room. It was times like these where he was glad that Isis wasn't around. He had assured his sister on the first visit that he would be okay alone, not wanting her to see just how crazy their father could get, even though she probably already knew. And even though she felt guilty about it, Malik knew she was happy with the small amount of time Isis was able to spend with Mahad.

He kept ranting like that, and Malik knew that as long as the man didn't start hurting himself, there was nothing the guards could do to make him stop. When he finally calmed down, he noticed another presence in the room, who was glaring fiercely and had his gripped on the back of the plastic chair his son was sitting on, making the whites of his knuckles stand out on his tan skin. "Who's this Malik? Your next lay?"

His entire body stiffened from its slouched position in the chair and he immediately straightened, trying to draw attention back to himself. "N-No, he's no one. Just another guard. You don't need to worry."  
The crazed man paid him no mind and sneered at Marik. "Do you want to know how I protected my son? How I made his life easier?"

"No, Father, he really doesn't need to-"

"I made sure that no one would be able to hurt him by allowing someone he knew to be his first. Isn't that generous of me?" Marik's eyes flicked down to the once again slouched form of Malik, before they filled with rage and went back to glaring at the man through the glass. "I don't understand why he wouldn't be grateful. I only protected my son from future pain. The first time in bed is always the worst, but it got better after that, didn't it Malik?"

"Time's up!" Malik gratefully launched himself out of his chair, and swiftly walked out of the room, not once looking back at his father or Marik.

Malik sped into the lobby and plopped himself into one of the waiting chairs, placing his head between his knees. Ra, Marik knew. He knew the one thing he had been too ashamed to admit to anyone. What would he think? That he was disgusting? That he was weak? Or would he just leave without a word?

/**No.**/

Malik jerked his head up to stare into purple eyes. He noticed that his sister had returned, albeit with a slightly wrinkled dress and ruffled hair, but Malik didn't mind. At least for a moment, she was able to be with her love.

"Malik, Pegasus-sama is calling, Mana and I have to go. I'll see you next week." He smiled and waved goodbye to his sister and the bouncing girl next to her. It didn't slip his notice that Isis still used a very formal honorific with her husband, and didn't fail to notice the longing looks Isis and Mahad sent each other.

He sighed. Life sucked.

As he stood up and walked behind Mahad, who was leaving out the front, he felt Marik step into pace beside him. He smiled lightly, and knew not to expect any words from him. Even though Malik had been through so much more, they were finally on the same page. And that was okay. Maybe life wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Yugi woke up on top of something moving. But it wasn't uncomfortable. In fact, it was exactly the opposite. The gentle up and down motion seemed to lull Yugi back to sleep, but he felt like he was forgetting something important, and that nagging feeling wasn't leaving him alone.

"Yugi…" The boy groaned and slowly blinked his eyes open to stare into crimson ones. Slowly comprehending the position he was in, Yugi gave a small yell and toppled over sideways, which caused his to roll of the couch, the quilt that had been covering them coming with.

Yami's mouth twitched in amusement, but he sat up to look at the boy pouting on the ground. "Are you alright, Yugi?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I sorry, I must have fallen asleep on you." He rubbed the back of his head and looked around, realizing by the sunlight streaming in through the windows that he hadn't just fallen asleep, but had slept there the entire night. How did his Jii-chan not notice?

/I didn't mind./

Yugi blinked and met Yami's eyes. "Did you say something?"  
Yami looked just as confused at the question as Yugi had been when he heard a voice in his mind. "No…" His eyes widened and he swore under his breath rapidly.

/Can you hear me, Yugi?/

The boy's mouth went dry. This was stuff you only read about in science fiction. \Y-Yes, are you-can you hear me?\

Yami nodded and resisted the temptation to smack his face. So _that's _why the shadows had connected them. Obviously they thought the two needed to be closer, he could just imagine Dark Magician smirking to himself in the shadows.

"Yeah, you remember last night? When we went to our soul rooms?" Yugi numbly nodded his head. "Well, it looks like they connected us, and gave us a mind link." Yugi swallowed roughly and held a hand to his forehead.

"I think I've got a headache."

Yami smiled and shook his head, as frustrated as the boy in front of him. "How about we go out? We can talk as we walk around. I haven't really been able to see much of the city and you can be my guide."  
Blushing, this sounded awfully like a date, and nodding his head, Yugi stood and went upstairs. "I-I think I might have some clothes that are two big for me. You can borrow them."

* * *

"Love you, Jii-chan! See you later!" Yugi waved his arm over his head and smiled as the man waved back before walking back into the shop.

Yami was surprised. Yugi had been completely accepting when it came to his shadow magic, and had appeared surprisingly happy when he learned about Duel Monster's connection to them. He was scared that Yugi was close to a mental breakdown, and knew he had to be careful not to overwhelm him.

Yugi smiled brightly as he walked down the street next to Yami. It had been so long since he had been truly happy, that he had almost forgotten how great it felt! Sure, it was a little freaky with all the magic stuff, but Yugi had always kind of believed in that kind of stuff, even if it was childish. Well, that showed those who teased him. Magic was real!

"Yami-chan? Are you okay?" The man had stopped walking, and was staring, well, more like glaring, at something in the distance. He shook his head and turned back to Yugi.

"No, everything's fine. Let's continue." He took hold of Yugi's hand and pulled him forward, all but ignoring Yugi's blush, of course, he noticed how cute it was before he stared ahead. He was determined to get away from where that man, the one with teal hair that had been staring at Yugi, was.

Yugi laughed and caught up to Yami, but didn't let go of his hand. It was weird to go a minute without thinking about Atem, but it felt…nice. He didn't want to forget about the man, but maybe he could still be happy.

Yami blinked at the crowd that suddenly swarmed the streets, reminding him of the market back home. The boy next to him was holding a hand over his mouth to try and cover the giggles he was making at the shocked look Yami had. "It can get pretty crowded here at this time. Almost everyone is signing off of work right about now. How about we go to the mall?"

He nodded and let Yugi tow him forward, always keeping an eye on the star-shaped hair in the crowded sidewalk. The walk wasn't long and as they got closer to the parking lot, the people started to thin out, much to Yami's relief. He never did like the market.

Yugi walked calmly through the doors, and making sure Yami was still behind him, stepped into the mall, heading directly to his favorite store.

Yami's eyebrows rose as he saw the racks of tight, leather clothing and saw Yugi already browsing through them. He smirked and joined the boy, holding something out to him that he knew would look way to hardcore for his date. /How about this?/

Jerking at the use of the mind link, but easily relaxing, Yugi laughed when he saw what was Yami was holding. "That would look absolutely ridiculous on me, but you might be able to pull it off."

He shook his head and placed it back on the bar it had been hanging on. "Nah, I'm not feeling it."

"Not feeling it?" Yugi's mouth twitched and had to stop himself from breaking out in laughter. "Since when are you a fashion guru?"  
Yami placed a hand on his chin and looked Yugi up and down, as if examining him. "Darling, you need some serious help." Yugi's mouth twitched again and he placed a hand over his mouth to keep the bubbles of laughter from pouring out. Yami reached over and grabbed Yugi's arm, pulling him to the changing rooms. "Allow me to provide it, honey, you don't have to do anything." If the snorts and deep breaths Yugi were taking were any sign, Yami had to say that his stereotypical gay act was working out pretty well. He placed Yugi in a changing room and closed the room. "You just stay here, darling, and allow me to do the rest." As Yami walked away, he could hear the laughter erupt from Yugi and had to quirk a smile.

Yugi took a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. Kami, he hadn't laughed this much in forever. He took another shirt that Yami handed to him over the door and had to blush at the low cut he saw on it. Did Yami want him to always show this much skin? Don't answer that.

He walked out of the changing room, expecting the fashion guru Yami to circle him and examine him from every angle like he had for the other outfits, but it never came. Looking over at him, he saw Yami staring at him with a loose jaw, looking one step away from it dropping open. His eyes had darkened and Yugi had to stop a shiver of pleasure that wanted to run through him because he was the one Yami was looking at. He looked down at the outfit, wondering if it really looked that good.

It was a tight black leather tank top, with three rips on one side, almost looking like claw marks. He had on a pair of dark brown, almost purple, skinny jeans, that he thought they brought out his eyes very nicely. He had a black, silver-studded belt hanging from one hip, and another on the other one, this one sliver with black studs. Yugi was wearing his normal leather bracelets and choker, which matched his shoes surprisingly well. How Yami had guessed his shoe size to be able to pick out the leather boots, he would never know.

"We're buying it." Yugi looked back up to see Yami staring forward with determined eyes.

Sighing, acting like he didn't really want to, but anything that made Yami react like _that_, had to be worth buying. "Fine." He turned around and walked back into the dressing room. "I'll just go change-no, Yami, you can't help me." He blushed as he caught that thought through their mind link.

Yami smirked, watching Yugi move back into the changing room. That boy was almost too good-looking to believe. Dragging his mind out of the gutter, where it had immediately fell when he saw Yugi in that outfit, Yami pulled out his wallet. Once his boyfriend had stepped out of the small room, holding onto the clothes he was going to buy, and grabbed his wrist. Ignoring the protests from Yugi, Yami paid for everything and walked out of the store, leaving Yugi to sigh and run after him, carrying the bags.

"You didn't have to do that, I could have paid for it."

The smirk came back to his face. "But, Yugi, we're on a date, I feel it's my obligation to pay for everything."

Yugi blinked and he blushed. Once it had registered that Yami had said date, and ignoring the squealing boy jumping around inside him, the boy opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off.

"What's this? Yugi, are you together with this miscreant?" Yugi stiffened at the sound of the voice, ignoring the growl from Yami and slowly turned around to stare at Dartz. "Never mind, it won't matter anyways, have you seen my new necklace? My father just gave it to me." He pointed to the pendant he was proudly wearing on his neck and Yugi's mind clouded.

He blinked. Was he here with someone? Was it Dartz? He was almost sure it was. Yugi took a step forward to the man, much to his delight and Yami's dismay.

"Yugi?" Yami reached forward and grabbed Yugi's wrist, which seemed to shake Yugi out of his daze and restore their mind link, which had felt close the minute Yugi had looked at the man's necklace. He recognized the man from before, and he did not like the way he was looking at Yugi.

The boy turned around to face Yami, and he was greeted with red-tinted eyes, and a glowing green symbol on Yugi's forehead. He tilted his head to the side, as if he didn't recognize Yami at all. Orichalcos…Yami growled again as he remembered the symbol and sent a rush of his own magic through Yugi, and Yugi jolted in shock before turning back to a disgruntled Dartz.

"Dartz-san?" Using his first name had been a mistake, the man had started to smirk. But something in the back of his mind told him it was alright. Shaking away that thought, he held his head, not expecting the sudden headache that had appeared there. "Yami? My head hurts. Can we leave? Goodbye, Waru-san, please don't approach me again." He didn't care if he sounded rude, the pounding in his head prevented him from even considering being polite.

As the two walked away, Dartz' smirk faded. _You will pay for turning your back on me, Yugi…_

* * *

Yugi laughed at a joke Yami had made as they walked down the sidewalk back to his house, the sun slowly setting behind them. His headache had slowly went away the farther he had gotten from the mall and he was back to his happy self.

Yami was another story. He kept sending sideways glances at Yugi, hiding his concern with jokes, and he wondered who exactly this Dartz was and why he had that kind of evil power.

The sound of sirens cut off Yugi's laughter, and they only got louder as they got closer to his house. Immediately flashing back to the accident, Yugi raced forward, leaving Yami behind to make sure that nothing bad had happened. "Jii-chan!"

Yami took after Yugi, and when he turned the corner that would bring him in view of Yugi's house, he had to stop abruptly to keep from plowing over the body in front of him.

Yugi was standing stock-still, watching the flames lick up every part of his house. He could feel the heat of the flames even from this distance and the sound of the police and fire sirens faded from his ears as his world collapsed around him.

"Yugi!" His name being called snapped him out of it. "Yugi…Your grandfather might have gotten out, he might be okay." Yami knew it wasn't good to give Yugi something that might be false hope, but the boy had completely zoned out, and he had needed something to bring him back.

Yugi slowly walked forward, and was stopped almost immediately by a policeman. "Please, we ask that all civilians keep a safe distance, this fire could go haywire at any minute."

Feeling hysterics coming on, Yugi held back the tears and looked desperately at the man who had stopped him. "There was an old man who lived here, please…has anyone gotten out?"

Don't say no, don't say no, don't say- "I'm so sorry, kid, but we haven't been able to pull anyone out, and no one has come out on their own."

Yugi numbly nodded and the police left, and he slowly fell to his knees, staring at the fire that was swallowing all he had ever known. His heart broke, but no one could tell from the outside. All they could see was a small boy kneeling in front of a burning house, his dull eyes staring blankly ahead.

But Yami knew. He could feel the pain coursing through his mind link and he didn't know how to respond to it. Catching a flicker of teal in the corner of his eye, he turned and saw the man from before smirking at him from down the road. Looking back at Yugi and deciding he would be safe for the moment, Yami stalked towards Dartz. Anger seemed like a good answer.

"Hello, Yami."

"Call me Kage." Even though it was weird to have someone call him by his last name, he didn't want anyone assuming they were friends. "What the hell are you doing here?"

Dartz smirked. "Just…delivering a message that I'm not sure had gotten. Yugi is _mine_. And I don't think you understand that. Do you see what happened today? The closer you get to Yugi, the more I'll have to hurt him, and I know that both of us don't want that to happen."

"Fuck you." Yami growled out through clenched teeth. Like hell he was going to allow this man to drive him away from his aibou. He would have smiled as he thought of the name his mind had given Yugi. Partner. It was fitting, especially since it was in the boy's native language. If he wasn't so infuriated, he would have considered it longer, how perfect Yugi was, but his anger at the man stopped that.

The shadows flickered around him in his rage, but he knew it was useless. The Orichalcos and the shadows cancelled each other out, leaving them completely useless unless he summoned a monster, which he was unwilling to do. It would pull the police away from the small chance they had of helping Yugi's grandfather. He turned on his heel and walked back to Yugi, leaving Dartz behind in the shadows to return to whatever hole he had crawled out of. The boy Yami was focused on was watching as the firefighters finally got control over the fire, and the red-orange that had lit up the night was replaced with the gray of smoke. Police lights provided an eerie source of light and there was the occasional flash of camera from the press.

When the police pulled out a charred body, Yugi didn't even react. His body was numb, he couldn't think. His ears seemed to be covered in cloth and everything had a haze over it. Only when Yami sat in front of him did he respond to anything.

"Yugi…" Kami, he hated the sound off pity, he had thought that people had stopped using that when they talked about Atem, but now…his Jii-chan… "Come stay with me, I'll help you with everything."

Yugi nodded and let Yami help him to stand. He couldn't bear to watch as the police zipped up the body bag and as he took one last look at the scorched remains of his home, darkness filled his vision.

He didn't even feel the steady arms that wrapped around his body and carried him away when he fainted.

* * *

**SW: Another long chapter! I'm sorry it was late in the day! Proofreading was a bitch for this one, I'm sorry if I missed anything.**

**Malik: I just realized something…**

**SW: What?**

**Malik: I haven't died! Yes!  
SW: Yeah, about that…**

**Yugi: You killed Grandpa! Why?!**

**SW: Um, well, you see…**

**Ryou: She's going to say it's for the plot, isn't she?**

**Yami: Yep.**

**Malik: You aren't going to kill everyone that you did in the first story, right?**

**Review please! (Malik: …Right?)**


	6. Recovery

**SW: Phew, I was so exhausted from that last chapter that I started this one late.**

**Bakura: Is that something new?**

**SW: Sh-Shut up!**

**Thank you to samaurai (Yeah, they're idiots. Hopefully things will look up for them), snow-kim (Most of the bad people were reborn, yes, and they don't remember everything, just dreaming right now), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Uh…hehe, yeah, I'm hoping to make life better for them…soon), and JapanT'sTheName (Squee! I'm glad you liked it! I know! First the lying, then Malik's father, and then Jii-chan! Your review made me squeal!) for reviewing!**

**Enjoy!**

{Bakura/Akefia to Ryou}

}Ryou to Akefia/Bakura{

* * *

Bakura swore and stormed up the stairs as the door closed behind Ryou and Akefia followed up slowly. After roughly tearing the door open, Bakura storms into the room and barely misses slamming the door on his boyfriend.

"Bakura, calm the fuck down."

"How that hell am I supposed to do that?" Bakura swore under his breath in Arabic, looking for something to hit that he could break. This was the reason he didn't get close to people. Every single _fucking _time he did, they always went and backstabbed him. The only people who hadn't were Marik, Akefia, and Yami.

How had he let Ryou get so damn close so fast? He seemed so innocent, like he couldn't harm a fly, and Bakura bet that he was laughing right now thinking over the pain he must know he was going through. Oh, wait, he closed off his side of the link. Bastard.  
"He lied."

He stopped. Turning slowly to Akefia, Bakura glared, not really wanting to start hoping. "What?"  
"You're an idiot for not noticing. He wouldn't look us in the eyes, he made sure that we couldn't tell what he was thinking, and when was the last time your mother ever called us down to tell us something she was doing? Or for that matter, let someone go for trying to steal?"

He thought about it before turning and kicking one of the bases of his bed. This time he was angry for a different reason. "Why would he do that?"

"Who knows. Better question, what are we going to do about it?"

* * *

Yugi stared at the tray of food in front of him. Looking around the table filled with his friends, except Joey and Seto, who had left after finishing eating and were probably making out somewhere, he found himself with no appetite. He sighed and looked down at his lap.

"Yugi, you have to eat."

Biting his lip to keep from screaming out, Yugi shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

Yami glared at the stubborn boy and reached out to hold his hand. "You can't keep going like this, Yugi! Would your grandpa want you acting this way? Would he want you to wither away like you are now?"

Yugi's shoulders shook, and he bent his head, hoping his bangs would hide the tears in his eyes. They were sitting in the corner of a lunchroom, and Yami was sad to say that this had become almost routine, him forcing Yugi to eat something. It was only Monday, two days after the fire, and Yugi was struggling to make it through everything. The burial would be on Wednesday and the thought had everyone in a somber mood, though they were trying to hide it.

"Yugi-kun?" He looked up as he heard the soft voice of his friend. Meeting Ryou's eyes, he smiled a little before letting it fall off his face, it wasn't real anyway, so what was the point? "Why don't you try to eat something?"

Yugi swallowed roughly, and blinked back tears before nodding, much to the relief of everyone sitting at the table. "But only if you do, Ryou." He knew that Ryou loved his grandfather, he had been more than eager to take Ryou in on the nights when his house had become too lonely, but he knew that no one was as affected as him, and that no one would be mourning as long.

The albino blinked, then looked down at his own plate of food with a look of reproach. "I'm not hungry." He looked up as Yugi snorted, glad to see at least some sort of life in him. "It's true!"

"If that excuse won't work for me, it won't work for you. What's wrong?" Glad to have the attention off of him, Yugi watched as everyone's worried gaze turned to his friend, who was now staring at his lap and trying to come up with an answer.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about!" He gave a nervous laugh and timidly looked up, but didn't meet anyone's eyes. "There's nothing wrong at all! Everything is perfectly fine!"

"Ryou!" "Ry, we need to talk to you!"

If it was at all possible for Ryou to get any paler, his friends witnessed it as he looked over to see Bakura and Akefia approaching their table. He cleared his throat and stood abruptly, stepping away from the table. "You know, now that I am thinking about it, I feel a little ill. I think I'll go check in on the nurse." He walked away quickly, waving over his shoulder. "I'll see you guys later!"

Bakura arrived at the table and glared at the spot that Ryou had once been sitting. "Damn it!" He sat down and crossed his arms, moving his glare from the table to the rest of the people seated at it. "Do you know how hard it is to track that kid down when he doesn't want to be found?"

Malik's mouth twitched and he shifted a little to get more comfortable on Marik's lap, where he had been sitting all lunch. "Now that I think about it, he was always the best at hide-and-seek."

"This isn't a fucking joke!"

Malik shrank back into Marik's chest with wide eyes and Bakura blew up. "Jeez, no need to bite my head off." He recovered from the shock and smirked at the frustrated man.

Bakura let his head fall to the table. "Fuck off."

"Has Ryou told you anything?" Akefia slid into a seat next Bakura, and looked around, obviously the more calm one.

Yami shook his head and jerked his head towards Bakura. "Does it have something to do with the way Bakura's acting?"  
"Take a wild guess, dipshit." Bakura's response was muffled by the table and his arms.

Akefia shrugged and smirked down at Bakura. "Little 'Kura-" Marik started snickering, but he ignored it. "over here, believed something his beloved mother told us and now Ryou thinks we hate him."

Malik joined Marik in the snickering. "Was it you or Ryou that came up with 'Kura?"

"Damn it! I'm going to the nurse's office." Bakura stood up and followed the route that Ryou had taken.

"Aren't you going to go after him?" Yami wrapped an arm around Yugi, who had gone back to staring at his lap.

Akefia shook his head and reached his arms up in a stretch, looking at Yugi for a second before staring at the cafeteria door. "Nah, he can take care of himself. Besides, I'm sure that you all want to hear what happened."

"Go for it." Marik leaned forward and rested his chin on Malik's shoulder. "Tell us all about how the bitch became even more bitchy."

"I don't know all the details," Akefia sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, "but I do know that somehow, Bakura's mother convinced Ryou to lie to us that he tried to steal. And then told him that he was never allowed to see us again."

Yugi gasped and looked up, coming out of his memories to stare at Akefia in shock. "And you believed her? Even someone who's only known Ryou for five minutes would know that he would never steal anything!"

Akefia frowned and looked Yugi over. "Yeah, well, he was a pretty convincing actor, and had blocked off his mind link."

It was Malik's turn to gasp. "You have one, too?"

"Too?" Yami looked over at Marik for confirmation. "You have one between you and Malik?"

Marik nodded and smirked, and a moment later a crimson blush showed up under Malik's tan. He turned around and smacked Marik on the arm. "He asked you if you did, not if you could use it!"

Rolling his eyes, Yami turned to Akefia. "And you have one between you and Bakura _and _Ryou?"

Yawning and looking over to where Bakura had left as if tempted to follow him, Akefia nodded. "Yeah, the shadows must have added his mind onto our link, or removed our old one and replaced it with a new one that included Ryou's, not that it really matters." He placed his arms behind his head and slid his eyes over to meet Yami's. "I take it from your questions that you and the squirt have a mind link?"  
"Don't call him that!" Akefia just raised an eyebrow as Yami stood up for Yugi.

"If he doesn't want me to call him that, he can tell me himself."  
Yugi blinked as if suddenly realizing they were talking about them and looked between Akefia and Yami, before looking down again and blinking past tears. "No, it's alright…"

"Alright, look, squirt." Akefia leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at Yugi. "Yami told me what happened after he brought you back to our house Saturday night, so I can understand some mourning. But I don't take kindly to people flat out ignoring me."

Yami glared and tightened his grip around Yugi's shoulders. "Akefia. That's enough."

He snorted. "Oh, stop being so Ra damned protective." He moved his head lower to try and make eye contact with Yugi. "I know it's normal to mourn, and I don't know much about it because no one I care about has ever died, but I'm pretty sure that it has nothing to do with going comatose. You're supposed to think about the happy times you shared with the deceased, not the fact that they're gone. You need to get over yourself, squirt, and start thinking about what your grandfather would want you to do, not what you want to do." Akefia smirked and stood up. "Which by the way you're acting, is something along the lines of crawling into a hole somewhere and becoming a hermit." With his purpose fulfilled, Akefia moved away from the table, intent on finding Bakura and Ryou.

Yugi blinked in shock as the harshly said words registered in his head. The remaining three that were seated at the table all waited for his response. After a minute, Malik and Yami sighed and turned back to their lunches, thinking that he had gone unresponsive again, and Marik went back to staring at Malik.

Then, out of nowhere, laughter erupted from the boy sitting next to Yami. Even as big, watery tears fell down his face, Yugi covered his mouth to try and unsuccessfully contain the laughter that was breaking out from his mouth.

Once it died down, Yami and Malik met each other's eyes, each thinking the same thing. Yugi had cracked. "Yugi…are you alright?"

The boy chuckled again before nodding. "Yeah, I'm fine." He smiled lightly and wiped the tears from his eyes. "Just need a little…firm push in the right direction, I guess."

Hearing the bell that marked the end of lunch, Yugi leaned over and pecked Yami on the cheek. "I'm fine, really. I guess I kind of wish Akefia was around when I was mourning Atem though." He smiled, a real actual smile, and grabbed the apple of his tray before standing to leave for class. "See you guys later!"

Malik blinked. Yugi had just laughed and said Atem's name and smiled, just two days after his grandfather died! "What just happened?"

Marik shrugged and slowly slid Malik off his lap, even though he was reluctant to do so. "Akefia's always had a way with words." He smirked. "Even if they are bit harsh, they always seem to do the trick. Helps a lot in business."

"I'm not even going to ask." Malik stood and looked over at Yami, who was still staring after Yugi. "He's fine, Yami, I'm sure there's no need to worry about him."

But it wasn't Yugi he was worried about. Yami knew his aibou was strong and that he would've recovered eventually, he just hated seeing Yugi in pain. What he was currently worried about were the dual-colored eyes watching Yugi leave the cafeteria.

* * *

Ryou slowly walked down the emptied hallways of the school, taking deep breaths to try and calm his heart. He didn't know why Akefia and Bakura kept pursuing him, he was almost certain that they hated him now.

Except…No! Ryou shook his head and cleared out any false hopes he would give himself. Bakura and Akefia had believed every word he and Senshi-sama had fed to them, and now they would never _really _want to see him again. The only reason they were coming after him was because they wanted to continue their game. They thought they could get more fun out of it if they kept pushing. Well, they had another thing coming.

"Ryou!"

If there was ever a time Ryou wanted to swear, now would be it. Muttering under his breath, he looked over his shoulder to see Bakura quickly approaching. He turned his head back around, considering the chances of him outrunning the obviously more athletic person behind him.

"Don't even think about it, Ryou, I want to talk to you!"

Ryou let his head fall back and he stared at the ceiling, if only class were in, then the teachers would care about yelling in the hallway and Bakura would probably be suspended...but he didn't want Bakura to get in trouble…Kami, why did he have care so much? He reluctantly slowed to a stop and allowed Bakura to catch up with him.

"Finally! Look, Ryou, about Saturday-"

"It doesn't matter." Ryou cut Bakura off. "Look, I tried to steal and I got fired, no biggie, I'm just glad your mother didn't press charges, there's no way I could've afforded bail."

Bakura's voice dropped to a whisper. "Is that what she blackmailed you with?"

Blinking in shock, Ryou quickly tried to hide the truth, even if it was only half of it, in his eyes. "N-no, I don't know what you're talking about." But the damage was done.

"It was, wasn't it?" Bakura smirked as Ryou became even more flustered and reached forward to grab his wrist. "Come on."

After a few minutes of walking, Bakura pushed open a door leading to a set of stairs, and started to climb. Ryou followed behind, his wrist still in Bakura's grasp. "Where are-Where are we going?"

"The roof, where else?"

The two climbed the stairs towards the top of the school in complete silence. At the top, Bakura opened the door and let go of Ryou's hand, stepping out into the open air over the school. "There, we might have some privacy now."

Ryou looked around the empty roof, taking in the fence around the edge that prevented anyone from jumping off. He didn't notice Bakura staring at him until his view came full circle, and he blushed when he met those dark brown eyes. "So, um, you wanted…to talk?" It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he doubted that he could outrun Bakura now that they were face to face.

"Yeah. Whatever my mother threatened you with, you should know that it wouldn't have mattered. We will protect you." Bakura looked away, not entirely sure if he wanted to say those powerful words.

Ryou felt tears in his eyes and he turned away. Bakura sounded so sincere… "Look, I don't want to play your game anymore. I'm not a toy."

"Is that what my mother told you?" Bakura saw red and reached over to grip the back of Ryou's arm. "Why the hell would you believe that, Ryou?" He didn't care if he was yelling, he just wanted to know.

Wincing against the tight grip and taking deep breaths to try and calm himself, Ryou answered quietly. "But it's true, isn't it?"

"Fuck no! Ryou, I-"

Ryou turned around as Bakura let go of his arm and cut himself off. "You what?" He was sure he was imaging the red tint on Bakura's cheeks.

"Ra damn it! I love you!" With that, Bakura stepped across the small space between them and pulled the shocked Ryou into a kiss.

A jolt of energy went down Ryou's spine and he shuddered as Bakura wrapped his arms around him to grip the back of his neck, tilting it to get a better angle. His eyes fluttered closed and he moaned, reaching up to hold onto the front of Bakura's shirt. He tilted his head and welcomed the tongue that was asking for entrance to his mouth.

Bakura deepened the kiss, playing with Ryou's tongue as his hands slid down, slipping under the hem of Ryou's shirt and letting them stroke the skin he found there. Ryou practically melted as Bakura's hands swept across his back, leaving him with a burning sensation of wanting something more.

When they finally parted for air, both were panting. "I don't know why…I've gotten this close so fast…but it's true…" Bakura frowned and reached up to brush one of Ryou's hairs from his face.

Ryou smiled up at Bakura, ignoring his insecurities for once and just going with the warm, fuzzy feeling he had inside. "I love you, too."

"Fuck you, Bakura! You've had three very hot kisses, including the one in his soul room, and I haven't had one! It's not fucking fair!" Bakura snickered as Akefia whined, never breaking eye contact with Ryou. Akefia stalked forward and, ignoring a protest from Bakura, pulled Ryou out of Bakura's grasp and into another kiss.

If Ryou had been out of breath before, it was nothing compared to the way Akefia took his breath away. He completely dominated the kiss, almost harshly, and Ryou surrendered completely. He couldn't believe this was actually happening, but he had to believe it as a tongue brushed against his molars, mapping out his mouth.

Ryou timidly let his tongue brush across Akefia's as he stroked inside him, and by the following growl, he guessed he was doing something right. Akefia's hands came up to grip the sides of Ryou's face, the callused thumbs brushing over his cheekbones. Ryou let his hands slide up Akefia's back, before stopping to wrap around his neck his neck tightly. If either heard the lunch bell ring, they didn't care.

The two broke apart, Ryou gasping with a completely dazed look on his face while Akefia just smirked, slightly out of breath, at Bakura.

"So which one is the better kisser, Ry?"

"Huh, what?" Ryou shook his head to try and clear the fog, not accomplishing much. "Uh, oh, I don't know."

The smirk grew and he wrapped his arms around Ryou, pulling him flush against his body. "I think that answers my question." He rested his hands on Ryou's hips and looked down at him, suddenly serious. "Did Bakura explain to you that we knew you were lying?"

Ryou sighed and looked over at Bakura, gesturing with his head to come over. The man crossed the small distance and draped his arms around Ryou from behind. "Kind of, he said he knew his mother bribed me."

At that, Akefia rose an eyebrow. "And what did she bribe you with? What could she possibly say that would make you doubt us?"

Ryou bit his lip, thinking it over, before he opened his side of the link. }How about I show you?{

Bakura buried his face in Ryou's hair to hide his smile. {Good idea.}

Ryou smiled brightly in response. Even though he knew he couldn't see it, Ryou could feel the smile in Bakura's voice through the mind link, and from the gentle look on Akefia's, so could he. "Well, part of it is that I wouldn't be able to afford bail…but she also said she knew something I wasn't ready to share."}I think I am now, though. Can we go to our soul rooms?{ He looked up at Akefia in question.

The man nodded and guided them to a corner, sitting down and patting the cement floor next to him. {Come on, I'd rather not fall on this when we go unconscious.}

Ryou sat down next to him, smiling as Bakura went on his other side, leaving him in between the two he loved. A moment later, he felt a small tugging on his mind and everything went dark.

When he woke up, he was in the middle of a queen-sized bed, and instead of seeing cement and fence, he was surrounded by light blue walls and pictures.

Akefia and Bakura entered a minute later, and Ryou slid off his bed and walked to one corner, which was covered in mostly black-and-white photos. "I'm not entirely sure how, but I kind of know the reason why all these pictures are here. Maybe it's because it's my soul room, so of course, I would know all the tricks to it." He looked for a specific one that would show the information he hadn't shared with anyone else. He gave a small smile and looked over to Akefia and Bakura, who were staring at him with confusion. "They're each a memory."

Ryou reached out and touched the picture, watching as the room transformed, replaying one of his most hated memories, and his most frequent nightmare.

* * *

**SW: I don't even know how I finished this in time. I was so busy this week!**

**Ryou: So the Bakushipping is back?  
SW: Yep! Hooray for making mends! Sorry I couldn't put in a lot of the other shippings, it just wouldn't fit!**

**Review please!**


	7. Kidnap

**SW: I'm going to hate this chapter…**

**Yugi: *pales* That doesn't bode well.**

**Ryou: *reads over chapter plan* Oh, it isn't that bad. Kinda. Maybe.**

**Malik: For you maybe!**

**Thank you to samaurai (Yeah, I know right? And I do too), JapanT'sTheName (I don't mind ;) I'm glad that you're having that reaction to my story! And yeah, Dartz is just so **_**easy **_**to fit into a villain role!), snow-kim (Yeah, Bakura is going to 'take care' of his mother very soon. And what would we be without friends *pales* OMR I sound like Tea), and Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Yep, they're all together!...But for how long? *evil laugh* :P) for reviewing!**

**Enjoy!**

/**Marik to Malik**/

\**Malik to Marik**\

* * *

They were at a cabin, surrounded by woods on all sides, though Ryou was the only one who knew that.

There was the sound of laughter, and Ryou motioned Bakura and Akefia to follow as he walked towards it. "Onee-chan! Let's play hide-and-go-seek!"

Akefia leaned over and whispered to Bakura. "There's so much clarity in this memory, what do you think will happen?"

"Well, whatever it is, it's obvious Ryou thinks about it a lot." Ryou shushed the two and opened a door that was at the end of a hallway.

"Seven…Eight…Nine…Ten! Ready or not, Ryou, here I come!" A girl, around nine or ten years old, rushed out of the bedroom, passing through them like they were ghosts.

Before Akefia or Bakura could ask who that was, a head popped out of the closet, giggling and looking at where the girl had gone. It was obvious that it was a younger Ryou, maybe four or five, and he covered his mouth to hide his laughter before disappearing into the closet again. The older Ryou led the over to a corner, and the three stood there, watching the memory play out.

Suddenly, a loud, feminine scream ripped through the house and Ryou's small head popped out again, this time his face filled with fright. "Okaa-san? Nee-san?" He crawled out of the closet and was moving to the doorway when the sound of boots came down the hallway. Ryou stiffened and scrambled back into the closet, wondering what was happening. Leaving the door slightly ajar, the boy watched as his sister and mother were thrown onto the bed and another body roughly dropped on the floor.

Ryou's eyes widened and he covered his mouth and bit his tongue to hold back a scream. "Otou-san?" It was a soft whisper but the two men dressed all in black heard it and looked around the room.

"What the hell was that?" One of the men turned to Ryou's mother and grabbed her hair, yanking on it harshly. "I thought you said there were only three in the house!"

The woman sobbed and nodded her head, attempting to cover for what she knew had been her son. "I told the truth! It-It was me, calling for my father. I'm scared."

The man sneered through his ski mask. "This is only the beginning. If you think you're scared now, just wait."

Ryou knew he should've kept quiet, knew he shouldn't have made a sound, but he was scared and all he wanted to do was run towards his mother. "Okaa-san? Amane-neesan?"

His sister stiffened and she coughed harshly, hoping that the two men didn't hear the whispers. "Okaa-san?" She asked in the same scared voice Ryou had, trying even harder to cover up the sounds Ryou had made.

"Silence!" A slap rang through the air and Amane stared in shock at the bed, where her head had been whipped around to face. Holding her reddened cheek gently, she had to hold back a smile. It had worked. They hadn't realized someone else was in the room.

She saw a flash of white out of the corner of her eye and she slowly turned her head to the closet, trying not to draw attention to herself. Large, tear-filled brown eyes stared back at her and she swallowed back the urge to scream for her brother to run. She moved her hand from her cheek to her lips, pretending to see if she had a busted lip, and folded three of her fingers, leaving only one resting on her pursed lips.

Ryou reluctantly nodded at the sign to be quiet and crawled to the back of the closet silently, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms them, letting his head fall forward. It wasn't long until he moves his hands from around his legs to his ears, to try and drown out the sounds of his family dying.

In the corner where Ryou, Akefia, and Bakura were staying, the room around them faded to black, and Ryou shakily told them that he thought it was because he hadn't actually seen this part. But the audio hadn't died. Amane hadn't stopped screaming, and guessing from the squeak of bedsprings, they could assume what was happening. Finally, it ended and the room reappeared, though it was a faded gray, the color right before nightfall.

The younger Ryou slowly crawled out of the closet, having heard the door slam after the stomping of boots had left the room.

"Okaa-san? Otou-san?" He walked over the two, where their bodies had been dropped onto the floor next to each other. Both their chests were covered in blood, and Ryou's father had a trail of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. "Please wake up. Why won't you wake up? The bad men are gone now. You can wake up." He gently shook his mother's shoulders, and when he pulled them away, they were covered in blood.

Ryou let out a wail, sobbing loudly as he moved over to try and shake his father awake. The man's head limply followed the shaking, showing no signs of life. Looking up briefly, Ryou caught sight of the bed.

He scrambled over to it, struggling to climb onto and over to where his sister lay. "Nee-san? Amane? I was quiet just like you told me to. Mummy and Daddy won't wake up. I think they need help." The girl gave no answer, not even a sarcastic remark at him calling their parents 'mummy' and 'daddy', just lay in the dampened sheets around her.

Ryou felt the wetness and looked down, his eyes widening to see the normally white sheets stained a darker color. Tears rolled down his eyes and looked back over to his sister. "Amane, please don't leave me alone. I'm scared." He sobbed into the following silence and curled up next to his sister, not caring about the red that smeared on his arms and stained his clothes.

"Don't leave me alone…Otou-san…Amane…Okaa-san…Please…" The sobs continued into the night, and eventually the memory faded, returning the three back to Ryou's soul room.

Ryou struggled to breath, holding back tears. "The police made me a prime suspect because I was the only one left alive and I was covered in blood. And your mother was probably going to tell you that. But the case closed ages ago, it went cold and no one's talked about it for years, so I had no idea she could have-could have kno-known that…"

Bakura rushed forward as Ryou fell to his knees, sobbing quietly. He scowled and slowly wrapped his arms around him, gently rubbing his back when Ryou turned and clung to his chest. Glaring at nothing in particular, Bakura looked up to see Akefia staring at them with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"'Kefia." The whisper was barely spoken, and was muffled by Bakura's chest, but the man heard it and responded. He walked over and slowly kneeled, joining Bakura in gently holding the crying boy.

"I love you, 'Kura. And you, 'Kefia."

* * *

Yugi fidgeted nervously in his seat, staring at the clock. Ryou had failed to turn up for the rest of their classes, and he was worried. Even though Yami had told him that he was almost positive that Akefia and Bakura were with him as well, it still didn't quell the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Finally, the final bell rang and Yugi leapt out of his seat, gathering his things and about to follow Yami out to the limo, hoping to see the three albinos waiting there as well.

"Yugi?" The boy turned around to see Malik standing there, staring at him with a strange look in his eyes. "Mind if we talk a minute?"

He nodded, and turned around, where Marik and Yami were waiting for them. Yugi shifted his backpack on his shoulder and looked back at Malik and the two held back smiles.

Jerking his head towards the door, Malik crossed his arms stubbornly. "Go on, we'll catch up in a minute. Wait for us at the limo."

Yami frowned and looked to Yugi, who nodded his head, before sighing and turning around, dragging a reluctant Marik by the arm. Yami closed the door behind him, and after looking down the emptied hallways of the school, he and Marik walked down the front of the school.

"It's strange that we've gotten used to saying 'limo', huh?" Yugi laughed a little and walked over to Malik, who sat on the top of his desk.

He shrugged. "That's what we get for dating boys who are loaded." Malik winked at Yugi, a small smirk playing across his face. "I mean, you've already moved in."

Yugi scowled and blushed, lightly hitting Malik on the arm. "Malik!" He sobered and looked down at the floor. "It's not like I had a choice."

Wincing a little, Malik jumped off his desk and wrapped an arm around Yugi's shoulders. "Yeah, about that, are you sure you're alright? I mean I know how it must be for you, everything you owned was at the game shop."

"It's alright." Yugi sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. "I just-I wish he was here, you know, both of them actually, Jii-chan and Atem. But that'll never happen." He smiled up at Malik and started walking to the door. "I guess Akefia was right. I mean, you and Yami had each told me almost the exact same thing, but I guess it never got through my skull." He tapped his head lightly.

Malik smiled, amusement dancing in his eyes. "Scientists have yet to find anything thicker."

"Malik!" Yugi rolled his eyes in exasperation and opened the door to the classroom, freezing in shock when he saw who was there.

Malik looked up from packing his backpack up to see Yugi hit the floor with a pained grunt. "Yugi!" He raced to his side and helped him up, noticing the wince Yugi gave and the arm wrapped tightly around his stomach. Turning his body to hide Yugi behind him, Malik glared at the doorway, where five buff men stood blocking their way out. "Who the hell are you? And what the fuck do you want?"

"This one's got fight!" One of the men, who looked to be the leader, laughed, followed closely by the others. "Don't worry, _boy_, you don't need to worry about who we are, and it isn't what we want, but what Master Dartz wants."

Backing up as the five entered the room, Malik snorted, already switching into a fighting stance. "He isn't getting anything from us."

They kept advancing and Malik was eventually backed up into a corner, not that he minded, it was easier to protect Yugi this way. "Silly boy, he doesn't want anything from_ you_…" Malik paled as he realized what the meant. "He wants the runt behind you."

The first man launched himself forward, but was quickly moaning in pain on the floor in front of Malik. He returned to ready stance in front of Yugi, who was staring at the scene in front of him with wide eyes. "Yeah, well, you'll have to get through me first."

He heard a small whistle go past his ear, but didn't pay it any mind as two more men came forward, almost overpowering Malik with brute force, but in the end they were on the floor with the first, each barely conscious. Yugi tried to contact Yami through the mind link, but it was blocked, and every time he tried to prod at it for a response, his vision flashed with green. As Malik finished fighting the two men in front of him, a feeling of drowsiness swept through him and he tried to blink past it, but it didn't fade.

"Malik…" He whipped around to see Yugi staring at him with half-lidded eyes and was swaying back and forth. "I feel…weird..." Malik rushed forward as Yugi's legs gave out, and all thoughts of their attackers flew from his mind. Worry shot through his system and he felt a concerned prodding at his mind link in response.

His mind link!

Almost smacking himself at his stupidity, Malik franticly tried to get the situation across to Marik. \**Marik! Come quickly! Waru-san is trying to take Yugi and he's unconscious and…**\ Something embedded itself into the back of his neck and Malik's mind clouded, giving him a warm, tired feeling. \**Hey…Marik…I feel tired…**\

He blinked and reached up to his neck and pulled out what had hit him, and he blinked past the blackness in his vision to see a small dart. \**Dart…Dartz…Haha…that's funny…**\ He saw the remaining two men help the others stand up and slowly start to approach them.

/**Malik, I need you to stay awake! I'm on my way, okay?**/

Malik fell back on his butt, rocking slowly, the darkness growing and his eyes blinking slowly. \**Kay…**\

/**Damn it, Malik! Stay awake! Don't you dare fall asleep on me, got it?**/

He shook his head to try and shake off his sleepiness. Why was Marik so mad? He was just going to curl up on the floor here…Yeah, that'd be nice. Blackness filled his vision and he thought he felt someone pick him up as he fell asleep.

* * *

Marik ran through the hallway, trailed closely by Yami. Malik had gone unconscious just seconds ago, and he hoped he wasn't too late. Barely slowing down to open the door, Yami and Marik stampede into the room just in time to see a leg disappear out of the window.

Swearing under his breath, Marik ran to the window and followed, practically leaping out of the window to try and catch up with the group of men holding two unconscious boys. The one Marik had seen was trailing behind the rest, making sure no one was following, and he knew they wouldn't catch them in time. Yami ran with him, running around the school to watch a black van speed away, and Yami knew it was holding his aibou.

"Fuck!" Marik cracked his knuckles, and started towards the limo, where it was still waiting. "Those bastards are dead. So fucking dead. I'm going to kill them. And I'm going to fucking love every minute of it."

Yami crossed his arms and glared at the direction the car had sped off in. "We don't even know where they went."

"Maybe I can help with that." The two turned around to see a man with brown eyes and hair gelled into a point over his head. He smiled lightly and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, not me, but my boyfriend."

* * *

"Where the fuck are they?" Bakura tapped his foot impatiently on the floor of the limo, he glared at the tinted windows, just barely relaxing when Akefia wrapped an arm around him. The three of them had spent the rest of the day on the roof, and he was itching to get home to confront his mother.

Akefia snorted and leaned back, making sure not to wake up Ryou, whose head was on his lap, sleeping quietly. "I'm sure they have _some _reason for being late." Ryou sighed in content as Akefia ran his hand through his hair.

A moment after he had said that, the door opened, and Marik and Yami entered the car, followed by two other boys. Akefia frowned in confusion. "Where are blondie and the squirt?"

The two stiffened almost immediately and looked down with similar expressions of hatred. "They were kidnapped."

Bakura scowled, already thinking about what he would do if it had been Ryou. His eyes slid over to the other two occupants of the car. "Who are they?"

The one that had got Yami and Marik's attention spoke up first. "I'm Tristan Taylor and this Duke Devlin. He used to work for Dartz-san, but I convinced him to get out of it."

Duke smirked and wrapped an arm around Tristan's shoulders. "I was looking for a reason to get out anyway, you just gave me one." He buried his nose in Tristan's neck and his smirk widened as a blush worked its way across his lover's face.

"Y-Yes, but before he left, Duke heard about a plan to kidnap Yugi. We didn't think he would actually go through with it, but now..."

Yami growled and looked about ready to tear something apart. "Damn it! So what help is that supposed to be?"

"I know where his hide out is. That's where he most likely took Yugi-san."

* * *

**SW: Have you ever known how you want to write something but you just can't seem to write it? Yeah, that was how I was for this entire chapter. It sucked. It's called writer's block. I hate writer's block. It is a plague that has no cure and I wish never to go through it again. **

**Yugi: Why did you do that to Malik and I?  
Malik: Yeah, why?!**

**SW: Eheh. Uh, I really need to come up with a better excuse than plot. This is my shortest chapter for this story and I'm blaming the writer's block.**

**Please Review~!**


	8. Death

**SW: Aaaand here's the next chapter.**

**Ryou: SoWhatever wants all her readers to know that she is going to be getting very busy soon, so she's changing her update days!**

**SW: Yep, I'm going to be busy during the week, so I will only be able to update on Sundays now! Hear that, SUNDAYS ONLY FOR UPDATES! I'm sorry to say that I can't update twice a week anymore!**

**Thank you to samaurai (Yeah, Ryou's childhood is sad, and no more secrets!), JapanT'sTheName (I'm happy you liked the Chaseshipping! And I'm so happy that you think it's a good story, it makes me so happy! And Ryou's backstory was the hardest to write so I'm glad that you thought it was good!), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Yeah…Ryou's backstory…I hated writing it. And XD I loved writing that line for Marik. Hehe! And I'm so glad you liked the Chaseshipping!), and snow-kim (Yeah, I know right? And for this group I don't think there is a place where trouble won't find them) for reviewing!**

**Happy reading!**

}Ryou to Bakura{

{Bakura to Ryou}

* * *

Malik groaned and scrunched his nose, shakily getting to his hands and knees. Ra, did he have a killer headache. He heard chains rattling as he moved and he reluctantly opened his eyes to find his wrists in shackles, attached to a wall by chains.

He moved to that wall, sitting and leaning against it, staring at the door at the opposite end of the room. Malik had no idea what to do get out of this. Every time he tried to reach out to Marik through the mind link the headache only got worse. He shivered lightly and looked around the room, his fear growing when he noticed Yugi was missing.

"Bastards!" Well, just because he was scared didn't mean he had to show it. "Where the hell is Yugi?"

Malik froze as he heard familiar chuckling, something he never thought to hear again. The door swung open and all his practice with martial arts flew out the window as he stared at the man he had hoped would never make it out of jail.

"Hello, son."

Malik shook, already yanking on the chains that held him in place. "H-How are you not in jail?"

The man chuckled and shook his head in mock disappointment. "Surely you know the only reason I was put in jail was because of Pegasus? He wanted your sister, the gold digger." He snarled and inched closer to Malik, watching in amusement as he jerked backwards, his back banging against the wall. "But Dartz-sama realized his father's mistake and set me free." Malik felt a jolt of shock go down his spine, his father _never _used honorifics. "Even explained that he had taken his mother's maiden name so he wouldn't be connected to the wretched man who locked me up, and as soon as Dartz-sama overthrows his father at the head of his gang, I'm going to be his right hand man."

Swallowing roughly as his father leaned over him, Malik's mind went blank when he heard the next sentence. "On one condition, of course. All I have to do is make sure no one finds you."

* * *

Ryou rubbed up and down his arms, trying to make the chill go away. They were on their way to where Duke said Dartz had taken Yugi. The entire car was in a tense silence and he snuggled closer into Akefia, happy to have that small sense of comfort.

The ride came to a stop in front of an old warehouse and Marik, Yami, Duke, and Tristan filed out of the car. Ryou would've followed if a hand on his shoulder hadn't stopped him. He turned around and stubbornly met the eyes of Akefia and Bakura.

"I'm going. I'm not letting you guys go in there alone."

Bakura smirked and leaned over Akefia to press a quick but firm kiss on Ryou's lips. "We're not letting you go in there. It's way too dangerous."  
"Besides, someone has to make sure no one steals the car." Before Ryou could even process the sentence, Akefia pulled Ryou into a much deeper one than Bakura had provided.

Quickly pushing his way into his mouth, Akefia tangled his tongue with Ryou's, claiming it as his. Ryou leaned into the kiss, but before he could wrap his arms around the man in front of him, the tongue disappeared, and he fell forward slightly as Akefia gracefully stepped out of the car behind Bakura and shut the door.

Ryou sat back with a pout and crossed his arms, realizing he had allowed Akefia to go without any protests. He thought for a minute about following them but he knew he had absolutely no experience in fighting, magic or otherwise, and he would be safer here, where Akefia and Bakura wouldn't have to worry about them.

Sighing in defeat, Ryou leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes. Trying to say goodbye through the mind link, he immediately straightened as he encountered a strong block. He poked and prodded at it with his mind, but nothing he did got through it. After a while, he started to develop a headache and wondered what could have happened that made Bakura and Akefia close off the mind link already.

Worry shot through him and he tried one last time to get through the wall, to no avail. 'Please be safe, 'Kefia, 'Kura.' Ryou let his head fall back again and stared at the ceiling of the car, thinking over all the horrible possibilities that could have happened to make the link close off.

* * *

Yami walked up to the doors of the warehouse, barely acknowledging when Bakura and Akefia caught up with them. His mind link was cut off, and he could only assume that Dartz was using the power of the Orichalcos to do it.

He waited for a moment at the entrance, making sure everyone was ready, before he pushed against the large doors and walked inside, taking in the large ceiling and crates that lined the walls.

At the far end of the room, a wooden platform was raised up by chains on all four sides. And on it was a throne, which was seating two, Dartz, and Yugi on his lap.

Yami heard Marik mumble something along the lines of 'conceited bastard' and he couldn't agree more. He walked forward, taking in Dartz' smirk and Yugi's blank stare, determined to end this here and now. Stopping in front of the platform, he looked up and met Dartz' eyes.

"Ah! Yami! I was wondering when you would decide to show up! And you brought the traitor Duke with you! Two birds with one stone!" Dartz laughed, Yugi joining in soon after, but the normally lively sound of chimes was dull and muted.

He slowly summoned shadows, having them snake around in the corners of the building, waiting for the right moment to break Yugi out of his spell. "What have you done with Yugi?"

Dartz laughed again, wrapping an arm around the boy on his lap. "I've merely shown him the light. And he is happy! Isn't that right, Yugi?"

"Yes, Dartz-chan. I'm perfectly happy here." Yugi smiled at Dartz, before looking over at Yami, tilting his head to the side. "Who are you?" His voice was quiet and monotone, not the lilt of a songbird that was normally there, and Yami knew that this wasn't the real Yugi, even though the words stung his heart. Yami could see the green glow on Yugi's forehead and commanded his shadows to get closer, which were now waiting just under the platform.

Dartz laughed and waved an arm, summoning guards that quickly surrounded the group on all sides. "So you see…there is absolutely no reason for Yugi not to stay with me! He is so happy that he has forgotten his previous, dull life, and is ready to take on a new one with me!" He smirked down at Yami, and pulled Yugi into a kiss, watching the fuming man out of the corner of his eye. Pulling back slowly, he turned back to the man glaring daggers at him. "Guards…kill them all." He brought Yugi down for another kiss, not even glancing at the people he had just ordered executed.

Yami forced himself to look away, reminding himself that Yugi wasn't in ontrol, he didn't know what he was doing. Summoning Dark Magician, he quickly found that the ones that couldn't use magic separated from the ones that could.

The ones that couldn't scrambled out of the way, quickly being followed by Duke and Tristan. The others stayed and faced Yami, Marik, Bakura, and Akefia, summoning a mix of Orichalcos and Ka monsters.

Marik brought forth his own monster, Helpoemer, and quickly attacked. "You motherfuckers are so dead!"  
What followed was an eruption of fighting and Yami tried to slowly make his way closer to the platform. Bakura and Akefia had each summoned their Ka monsters, Man-eater Bug and Diabound, and were slowly working their way to the right, where Duke and Tristan were fighting the non-magic users.

Marik was completely surrounded by monsters, but he didn't seem to mind. He was laughing maniacally as he ordered attack after attack for Helpoemer and launched attacks of his own with the shadows.

Rolling his eyes as Marik made quick work of the monsters and moved on to the people that were controlling them, Yami found himself right under the platform. If he jumped and stretched enough, he could reach the edge.

Swearing lightly under his breath about being short, he finished of the Viser Des in front of him and shifted on his feet, preparing to jump. He grunted as someone attacked Dark Magician, who had a taken a protective stance in front of him, but that didn't stop him as he leaped.

He gripped onto the wooden edge, hearing Dartz swear as the platform swung backwards, and hauled himself up. Yami barely had time to react as a flash of light came towards him. Falling to the side, he looked up to see Orichalcos Shunoros staring him down.

"It's so great to see you, Yami! I was just wondering how I was going to show you how much more I know about Yugi than you, and I found the perfect way! Did you know that Yugi knew archery?"

The Orichalcos Shunoros faded, revealing a waiting Yugi behind it. He stood in front of Dartz, holding a green bow and had a single arrow, which was already notched into place. Behind him stood Dartz, who was smirking at the stunned Yami.

Slowly standing up, watching as Yugi's arrow followed his movement, Yami smirked at Dartz, trying to hide his nervousness. "Yes, I did know that. I believe you'll find that you can learn a lot about a person by actually spending time with them instead of controlling their every move."

Dartz rolled his eyes and Yugi changed his position to get a better aim. "Tell me, how does it feel to stare down an arrow held by the one you love? Unrequited love, at that. Believe me, Yugi _wants _to do this. I could never force him to do anything. He loves me, that is all."  
"The Yugi I know would never point a bow at a living thing!" Yami growled and moved forward, inwardly smiling as Yugi pulled the string back farther, but failed to release. "Face the facts, Dartz. Yugi despises you, and you can probably feel it through the Orichalcos spell you have on him."

"Silence!" Dartz screamed out, and everything stopped, focusing on the three people on the platform. "Yugi, I order you to kill this man!"

Something inside Yugi's eyes flickered, and he hesitated, the arrow shaking against the arched bow. Yami took his chance. Shadows swarmed around Yugi and he gasped, the life returning to his eyes and the seal on his forehead shattering. Dartz screamed in frustration and launched himself at Yugi, but didn't expect the boy to turn and face him.

On reflex, Yugi screamed, and released his arrow, which embedded itself in Dartz' heart. Gasping, Yugi dropped his bow, covering his hands with his mouth as he watched blood bloom across the front of the man shirt. Dartz fell to his knees with wide eyes, still alive, but dying fast.

Bakura swore loudly as loyal men to Dartz gave a large outcry and resumed fighting with new vigor, quickly ordering Man-eater Bug to resume attack. Akefia soon found himself back-to-back with Bakura and smirked over his shoulder as he surrounded one man completely in shadows.

"How you holding up, 'Kura?"

Bakura chuckled and took out another man. "Fine, you?"

"Just-" Grunting in shock, Akefia fell to his knees as a dagger embedded itself in his stomach. Hearing a haunting cackle, he looks up to see Saggi the Dark Clown disappearing into the shadows. "-fine…"

Spinning around and kneeling next to his lover, Bakura gripped Akefia's shoulder and forced him to show the wound. "Shit, Akefia. Why'd you let your guard down?"

Akefia snorted and pulled the dagger out, grimacing at the pain and holding a hand to the wound to try and stop the blood flow. "Because I was looking out for YOU!" Ending the sentence with a yell, Akefia pushed Bakura out of the way as Saggi reappeared behind the man and threw another dagger, this one hitting his shoulder.

"Damn it!" Bakura leapt forward and ordered Man-eater Bug to attack, but the monster faded before he could. "Shit!" He stood in front of Akefia protectively, attacking anyone that came too close and leaving the rest for Marik, who seemed to making a dent on his own.

Diabound stood near his master, bleeding with similar wounds, making sure that no one got past Bakura. But something slipped by even him. Bakura turned around as Akefia screamed, watching as Saggi the Dark Clown tore his curved dagger out of the man's back, chuckling darkly. Diabound quickly dissolved into shadows and Bakura reached out to hold Akefia's shoulders before he could fall forward.

A trail of blood pushed itself out of Akefia's mouth and Bakura watched as he took a shaky breath. Marik stormed past them, catching Saggi off guard and destroying him before running off again. "Everyone loyal to Dartz has been dealt with. I'm going to find Malik."

Looking around to see almost no one in the warehouse, and wondering how everything could have happened so quickly, Bakura turned back to Akefia. "Fuck. Akefia, this looks bad."

"No…shit." Akefia coughed, sending a spray of blood onto Bakura's pants. "I…don't think…I'll get out of this."

Bakura growled and swept his eyes across the abandoned place, bodies on the floor, Tristan helping Duke, who was holding a hand to his bleeding stomach, and Yami, Yugi, and Dartz, still on the platform. "Dartz is still alive, the mind link isn't open."

Akefia nodded and sat back, before slowly sliding down to lay on his back, watching as Bakura quickly moved to his side. "Yeah…I get it." He sighed and frowned against the pain, drawing in another shaky breath. "Tell…Ryou…" He trailed off and Bakura swallowed roughly, fisting his hands at his sides. He felt completely useless. "I love him…so much…more than…he could ever imagine…" Akefia breathed out and his body relaxed, his eyes staring off into space.

His teeth clenching, Bakura reached over to Akefia's neck, waiting for a minute before pulling away, having not found a pulse. He swiped the corner of his suddenly wet eye in annoyance, before reaching over and closing Akefia's.

He heard Yugi gasp, and he figured out what happened as warmth flooded into his mind from Ryou. Quickly hiding certain information, he waited for Ryou to speak first. The side that normally held Akefia's link felt hollow and empty. Ra damn it, why did he have to die?

}Bakura? Is Akefia there? I can't reach him through the mind link. Duke and Tristan are at the car and their hurt, we need to go to the hospital.{

Letting his head drop, Bakura placed an arm under Akefia's neck and knees, lifting the limp body up. {Yeah, we'll be out in a minute.}

"Yami!" Swearing quietly against the crack he heard in his voice, he looked over to the man jumping down from the platform, holding tightly to Yugi. "Let's go! I'm sure Marik will catch up."

Yami nodded and guided Yugi, who looked to be in shock, around the dead bodies of those stupid enough to be loyal to Dartz. They stopped at the door, looking back as they heard the pounding of footsteps behind them.

"Don't just stand there, get the car running!" Marik yelled out, also carrying a limp body, but running with urgency. "We need to get to the hospital! Malik needs a doctor!"

* * *

**SW: Ah, whoops…**

**Malik: *face palm* SoWhatever just realized that she forgot to put up a disclaimer, so she changed the summary.**

**SW: I forgot, I swear!**

**Ryou: *crossing arms and tapping foot in annoyance* Is that all?  
SW: Oh! Yeah…um, I apologize for updating late,-**

**Bakura: **_**Again**_

**SW: -I was camping so we had no internet and we got home really late today, trust me I was a nervous wreck trying to get this chapter in.**

**Ryou: That wasn't what I was going for. *huff* You killed Akefia!**

**Review! Pretty please? (Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry about the late update! Did I say I was sorry?)**


	9. Tied Together

**Malik: I don't want to die!  
SW: I never said you would…**

**Akefia: You fucking killed me!**

**SW: *cower* Don't yell at me!**

**Thank you to snow-kim (So far, yes the deaths are the same, and don't worry ;), all your questions and more will be answered!), samaurai (Yeah, I know…Malik's throwing a fit), JapanT'sTheName (I'm sooo glad you liked it! Hehe your reviews always make me smile! Yeah, I'm going to have a field day writing this chapter, what with Malik and Ryou and all that…), Doragon-chan (Thank you for reviewing! I know I would be in shock if I ever killed anyone, so…Poor Yugi is right!), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (o.0 Sorry! Your reaction actually made me go 0.0 and I was like 0.o [I can't think of any other way to describe it]), and takninja13 (Maybe~ ;) Wait and see~), and Awesometamez (Haha, sorry for killing everyone, and no ;) Malik isn't dead) for reviewing!**

**Hope you like it!**

* * *

Ryou leapt out of the car when he saw Duke and Tristan leave the building. "What happened? Are you okay? Where is everyone else?"

Duke just grunted and continued to make his way to the car, holding tightly onto his stomach and leaning heavily on Tristan. Ryou followed the two closely before going to the front and telling the driver to be ready to take the limo to the hospital at a moment's notice.

He turned back to the warehouse and gasped as he felt the mind link open again. Smiling lightly as Bakura's presence filled a corner of his mind, he waited for Akefia's soul to reconnect with his, but there was nothing.

{Bakura? Is Akefia there? I can't reach him through the mind link. Duke and Tristan are at the car and they're hurt, we need to go to the hospital.{

There was a small pause and Ryou thought that Bakura wasn't going to answer, but got this short response. {Yeah, we'll be out in a minute.}

He impatiently shifted from foot to foot, deciding if he wanted to go inside to help or not. He had heard the sounds of fighting and he wasn't entirely sure he could see the results of that without getting sick. Just as he was about to run into the warehouse, regardless of his nervous stomach, four people ran out of it.

The world around him faded as they came closer, two of them carrying bodies. Bakura came to a stop before him and Ryou barely noticed as Yami, Yugi, and Marik ran past him to the car. There was a dull pounding in his ears and all he could see was the limp body in Bakura's arms. He looked up from the body and into Bakura's eyes, hoping to find some stray of hope in the dark brown eyes. His heart dropped to his stomach when he found none there.

Ryou stepped forward, reaching a hand out to brush away a strand of gray hair, glad that the eyes revealed by the movement were closed. Akefia's body was cold and covered in blood and limp and lifeless and…

"Come on, Ryou. We need to get to the hospital." He blinked, this all felt surreal. It was a dream. It couldn't really be happening. But as soon as he was seated in the car, next to his lovers, one living and one dead, it all hit him. It slammed into his body like a freight train and he shook uncontrollably in a feeble and unsuccessful attempt to hold back sobs.

When he finally broke, when the tears started rolling down his face, no one said anything, just stared at the floor in silence, the somber mood inside the car never broken. Ryou shakily brought his hand up to brush through Akefia's hair again, his body hollow on the inside. Akefia was _dead_. Gone. There was nothing there. How could this have happened? Why did this happen? Why did he have to die?

He barely even noticed when they arrived at the hospital, everything around him was fuzzy, it didn't matter anymore. Bakura stayed in the car with him, still holding his dead lover gently and watching as Ryou broke in every way possible. He opened the mind link wider, trying to take some of his pain as his own, even if he was already drowning in the river of emotions inside him.

Ryou felt the tears on his face, and he numbly wondered how long he had been crying. Even when he felt Bakura open the mind link, it gave him no sense of comfort. Not only did he feel the sorrow on Bakura was feeling, but he knew that he would never again get to connect to Akefia like he was with the man sitting next to him.

He moved his hand from Akefia's hair to his face, tracing the lines of the cold surface. He choked out another sob, before falling silent. After he bent down and placed a soft kiss on Akefia's lips, Ryou sat up and nodded, sealing away the emotions inside him.

"Alright, let's go then. Who else is hurt?"

* * *

Marik ran through the emergency doors to hospital, scowling as Malik was forced from his arms, but knowing that he needed help. The boy had been unresponsive the entire ride to the hospital and Marik felt his fists clench as he watched nurses roll Malik into an operating room. Damn that man.

_Marik stormed down a hallway he had found at the back of the warehouse, following the screams he had heard coming from the end of it. Malik's screams._

_He stopped in front of a locked door, and called the shadows to open it. The door slammed open and the room fell silent as the man torturing his lover stopped and turned to face him. He dropped Malik, who curled up in a ball, still attached to the wall by chains and wishing the pain away._

"_And who the fuck gave you permission to enter?" Marik smirked, the man must think that he worked for Dartz. Well, they would have to fix that now wouldn't they?_

_Ignoring him, Marik walked calmly to Malik, squatting down to stare at the quivering boy and unlocked the chains on his wrists. "Malik? Can you hear me? How bad are you hurt?" All he got was a whimper, but that was enough. He growled and his hands clenched, this man wouldn't live to see another day._

_Suddenly, a fist connects with his back and he lurches forward, catching himself in time before he fell on Malik. Turning around slowly, Marik meets the eyes of the man who thought it would be smart to attack while his back was turned. Big mistake._

_Malik's father sneered, not realizing that he had pissed off the wrong man. "That'll show you to ignore me. Besides, the boy doesn't matter, he's as good as dead now." His eyes widened as he saw the shadows gathering around Marik's fists. "S-Shadow Magic! You have Shadow Magic! Demon!" He turned and started to the door._

_Marik's smirk widened. He loved it when they tried to run. He sent out a blast of shadows, covering the doorway as Malik's father opened it, making it impossible for him to leave. He gave a dark chuckle as the man turned to face him, the large body quivering in fear._

"_Coward. The minute someone stronger than you appears, you cower and whimper. I am going to enjoy making you scream." He ordered shadows to grab hold of Malik's father's wrists and ankles, making sure that they were tight enough to cause pain._

_The devilish smirk on Marik's face never faded as he ordered the shadows to peel the skin off the man's body. It was an excruciating process. Well, for the person going through it that is. Eventually, Marik grew tired of the man's screams and had the shadows rip out his vocal cords, another painful torture method that wouldn't kill him. The man in front of him barely even resembled a human anymore, blood dripping down from his throat and the areas that had already been skinned._

_\__**M-Marik…**__\ Swearing under his breath, he turned from the terrifying scene, allowing the shadows to finish Malik's father off. He knelt down next Malik as the thud of a dead body dropping rang out in the room. \__**Hurts…**__\_

_/__**Malik. I'm here. Don't you dare go dying on me.**__/ Marik picked up Malik gently and ran out of the room._

_\__**Love you…**__\ Malik's head lolled back, his entire body going limp as the pain overwhelmed him. Marik felt Malik go unconscious through the link, but knew that he was still hanging onto life by a thread._

"_Damn. Fuck. Shit." He ran through the hallway, using every swear word he knew, in both Japanese and Arabic, finally reaching the main room, running up to Bakura and Yami. "Don't just stand there, get the car running!" Honestly, if someone is running with a limp body, do you just stand there staring? "We need to get to the hospital! Malik needs a doctor!"_

Marik hadn't even noticed the others in the car, his only focus had been on Malik. There had been dried blood on almost every spot on Malik's body, and he had failed to wake up or respond to Marik when he tried to use the mind link.

Looking back on it, maybe he should have paid a little more attention. Duke was sitting in a wheelchair, and complaining loudly about it as he held the bandage around his waist. He had gotten fifteen stitches across his stomach, and looked a little paler than normal. That would probably explain why Tristan wouldn't leave his side and refused to let the man go home until the doctors made sure he was alright.

Yami was sitting in a green plastic chair, Yugi held against his chest. The boy seemed to still be in shock and was looking around the room in a daze, not responding unless someone shook him and repeated themselves a few times.

Bakura and Ryou had been directed to the morgue and if the situation wasn't so dire, Marik would've smirked at the almost identical, blank expressions on their faces. If Ryou was anything like Bakura at all, Marik knew that he bottled up his emotions inside him, and that was probably what both were doing, not wanting to deal with thinking about Akefia's death.

Yeah, Akefia. How the hell was he supposed to deal with that? One of his best friends is suddenly gone and he had no idea how he was supposed to react. The shock was still going through his system and he was almost thankful for the dulling feeling it gave the rest of his emotions. The pain, the worry, and the fright that Malik might leave him were all sharp-edged daggers being flung around inside him, and the shock helped to numb that, even if it wasn't much.

Marik paced up and down the waiting room, thinking over what had happened. Akefia was murdered and the one he loved was still in surgery. If Dartz wasn't already dead, he would've hunted the man down and killed him himself.

Isis had shown up around an hour ago, thirty minutes after the hospital had called her to let her know that her brother was in the operation room. She brought Mana and Mahad with her, and were sitting on either side of the woman, who was wringing her hands nervously, the only sign of emotion from her. Mana was wiping away tears in her eyes, and Mahad was glaring at Marik.

"You know this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't-"

Marik whirled around and cut Mahad off. "Don't fucking start with me! I don't fucking care what you think! Malik is in there and I have no fucking idea if he'll make it out! Don't you think I'm going over what I could have done for this not to happen?"

"You've been nothing but trouble for Malik!" Mahad stood up and narrowed his eyes at the fuming man. "You should've just stayed away!"

"Mahad!" Isis frowned at him, before gesturing to the seat next to her. "Calm down. We shouldn't let the stress get to us like this."

"The Ishtar Family?"

The tension rose as everyone's heads whipped around to stare at the doctor holding a clipboard and looking around the room. Isis stood up shakily and walked over. "Yes? That's us. Is Malik okay?"  
The doctor sighed and looked down at his clipboard. Marik felt his heart clench. "He's stable at the moment, but there was some pretty bad damage done. He has a dislocated arm, a multi-fractured leg, four bruised ribs and there seems to be irregularities in the brain patterns."

Isis swallowed back her tears. "But will he be alright?"

"I can't know for sure. We'll have to wait until he wakes up from the anesthesia to give him a better examination." The doctor stepped aside and motioned to the hallway behind him. "But you can come see him if you'd like."

* * *

Two days later and Malik still hadn't woken up. Yugi stared at the hard ground in front of him as workers lowered his grandfather into the ground. The doctors had declared Malik comatose and Marik and Isis had barely left his side, except when forced to by Mahad or Mana.

Ryou and Bakura weren't here either, they were planning another funeral, for Akefia. Yugi knew that Ryou would've made time to come if the boy still didn't look out of it. The boy barely responded to anything anymore and Yugi was starting to worry.

Joey, Seto, and Mokuba had all come and expressed their sorrow. Well, Seto had stood in the back of the room, glaring as Joey and Mokuba had hugged Yugi tightly, but he had helped pay for the funeral and that was enough for Yugi. He wouldn't have done something like that if he didn't care. Joey said that as soon as Malik was out of the hospital, they were all going to go to Burger World and catch up. That made Yugi realize that Joey knew almost nothing of what had happened and agreed to the invitation immediately.

The only other person that had known his Jii-chan well enough to show up was Professor Hawkins and after saying a few words, telling him to come over whenever he needed to talk, he left to pick up his granddaughter from her college classes.

Yugi felt arms wrap around him from behind and he turned his head to meet ruby eyes. "Come on, Yugi let's head on home."

He sighed and turned back to the grave, reluctantly nodding his head. "Yeah…I love you, Jii-chan, I'll come see you, okay?"

Yami guided Yugi away from the graveyard and towards the black limo waiting for them. How did everything in their life go so wrong?

* * *

"There you are, Bakura. What are you doing?"

Bakura growled lightly as he turned to face his mother. "Planning a funeral."

"Oh really? Whose?" Senshi-sama walked into the room, catching sight of the second albino in the room. "And what is he doing here?"

"Bitch!" Bakura jolted up out of his seat and would've stormed over there if Ryou hadn't slowly wrapped a hand around his wrist. "You fucking bitch! You lied about Ryou stealing and you don't even fucking care that Akefia is dead!"  
The woman's faced shock before it morphed into a small smirk. "Oh? Akefia's dead? Didn't he leave his portion of the company to you? I believe that means I'll have to take it over since you aren't of age yet-"

"You don't even know my fucking age! I'm nineteen, you bitch! I _am_ old enough and there's no way in hell I am letting you take the only thing I have left of Akefia!"

"Now, now, Bakura, no need to get so angry-"

Bakura cut his mother off again. "Don't condescend me! I want you out of this house and I never want to see your fucking face again!"

Senshi-sama stepped forward, glaring at her son. "You can't order me around! I am your mother, young man!"

Ripping his hand from Ryou's grasp, he stalked forward until he was right in front of his mother, glaring straight into her eyes. "Don't test me, woman." Shadows gathered in the corners of the room, something Senshi-sama didn't fail to notice. "You're lucky I'm letting you live. Now, do I need to repeat myself?"

The woman huffed and glared at Bakura, before spinning around and stomping out of the room. A moment later the front door slammed. Bakura turned back to the couch and walked to it, falling backwards and staring at the ceiling.

Ryou ignored the papers in front of him for a minute and curled up next to Bakura, sighing slightly. "I love you, 'Kura."

Bakura closed his eyes and wrapped his arm around Ryou's shoulders, not letting his thoughts wander to the only other person he would say he would love. The emotions were much easier to deal with when they were locked up inside him. "I love you, too."

* * *

Isis walked into the white hospital room, taking in the positions of everyone inside. Mana was curled up in a corner, a Winged Kuriboh trying to cheer her up. Mahad was sitting in one of the two chairs beside the bed, his eyes flitting between both blondes sleeping on the bed. Marik had refused to leave Malik's side, literally, and was lying next to the boy, his arm draped over Malik's chest.

Taking the spot next to Mahad, she thought over the reason she left in the first place. With the room in such a somber mood, Isis didn't want to discuss the best moment of her life, even if would cause many complications, so she too turned her eyes to the young lovers. "You finally got him to sleep." Marik had refused to fall asleep these past two days, in case Malik woke up.

Mahad frowned and nodded his head. "I put a spell on him. I know he won't appreciate it when he wakes up, but I know he'll feel better." Isis gave a bitter smile at that. Somehow Mahad had gotten over the anger that Marik was taking Malik away from him, and had become even more protective, to both of them.

Isis sighed and watched Mahad out of the corner of her eyes, deciding to just spit it out. "I have something to tell you." Never taking his eyes off of Malik and Marik, Mahad nodded, giving her the signal to continue.

"I'm pregnant."

* * *

**SW: *tapping chin in thought* Where to go from here?**

**Malik: Not death! Do not, I repeat, do not kill me!  
SW: That wasn't what I meant, your fate is already sealed, I know what's going to happen to you, I meant how am I going to start the next chapter?  
Malik: *squeak* My fate is sealed? That doesn't sound promising…**

**Pretty please review?**


	10. Healing

**SW: Hey ya'll!**

**Yugi: SoWhatever has an important question!  
SW: Yeah! So I was just PMed by noveljoy inviting me to go and post stories on a new website called noveljoy .com, do you think I should do it? I wouldn't stop posting on here of course, I would just be doing it on two websites.**

**Ryou: She's considering it but isn't sure if she wants to. What do you guys think?**

**Thank you to JapanT'sTheName (Hehe, your reviews always make me happy so you don't have to worry about me liking them or not, even if you were mean in them, you just seem like you would put it so nicely! And no you aren't being obnoxious, but I can't answer your question ;) Glad you liked the plot twist!), samaurai (Yeah, I know. It's so sad! Hopefully I'll let things get better soon.), snow-kim (I love it when you ask questions! You'll find out about Mahad, Malik, and Bakura's mother in this chapter), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (Who isn't happy for Isis? :P And yeah, Malik…No spoilers!), and takininja13 (I feel bad to Malik in that situation…I feel sorry for him too!) for reviewing!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_Two weeks later_

Ryou fell to his knees before the grave, cradling a bouquet of white lilies. He swallowed back tears and sighed, reaching down to trace the name written in stone. Bakura placed a hand on Ryou's shoulder. The boy jerked and looked up, having forgotten the man was there, before dropping the flowers to latch onto Bakura. Bakura took a step back to steady himself and slowly wrapped his arms around Ryou, not sure how to be a comforter. He took Ryou's chin in his hand and pulled him into a quick kiss. The man bent over and placed the dropped flowers on top of the grave. "We have to go to the hospital."

Nodding his head slowly, Ryou stepped away from Bakura and looked over his shoulder at Akefia, blowing him a kiss before following his love out of the graveyard.

* * *

They walked into the hospital room and Ryou bit his lip at the scene. Marik had his head resting on the bed, his body sitting in a chair. He was facing them and the two could see the bags under his eyes. The cause of his condition was lying on the bed, attached to an IV and a heart monitor with tubes coming out of his nose to help him breathe. Ryou shivered and Bakura wrapped his arm around the boy to guide him to the chair next to Marik. The man jolted awake and looked at the two new entrances with dull eyes, "Oh, hello. Isis just left to go get some coffee, she'll be back any minute." The monotone voice sent shivers down Ryou's spine and he turned from the defeated man to stare at Malik.

Even after two weeks, there were still bruises scattered across his skin. His tan had faded into a milky pallor and there was a bandage wrapped around his head, hiding his limp hair, and another around his left arm. The cast on his leg was raised up over the bed by a sling and Ryou knew there was still a bandage around his chest to make sure the ribs could heal properly. "Please wake up, Malik."

Isis walked into the room, carrying a small paper cup filled with steaming coffee, with Mahad trailing along after her. "Hello, you two. I'm happy you came."

Ryou immediately stood up and moved out of the chair, letting Isis sit down with a sigh. Mahad followed behind Isis protectively. After he had gotten over the shock that Isis had announced her pregnancy, she was only two weeks along, he refused to leave Isis' side. Especially when she confirmed that she had never "done it", as Bakura put it, with Pegasus, so it was for sure Mahad's child. However she had been able to get pregnant when she rarely ever saw Mahad, Ryou wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Looking over as Yami, Yugi, and Mana each walked in with somber expressions, he smiled lightly at them before turning back to Malik. "I hate this. I wish he would just wake up."

"Don't we all." Isis licked her lips and reached out to hold Malik's hand. "I just don't understand why he's still in a coma. The doctors say all the scans are reading as normal. It's as if he doesn't _want _to wake up."

Marik stood up abruptly and leaned over the bed. "Is that true, Malik?" He bent down and put his nose in front of Malik's. "Do you not want to see us?"

Suddenly, Marik collapsed and everyone rushed forward to get him off of Malik. "Marik! What the hell?" Bakura gripped his shoulders and pulled him off, but the man didn't respond.

Mahad lifted Marik's chin, ignoring the grunts Bakura made as he held up the limp body, and peeled open an eyelid. "He's gone into his soul room." He let the lid fall close and gestured to the bed. "We might as well lay him down."

"Why would he do that?" Yami moved forward to help Bakura move Marik next to Malik on the bed.

"I doubt it was voluntary. He wouldn't have wanted to risk hurting Malik."

Yugi came over and wrapped an arm around Yami. "Maybe it's like our mind links. You did say the shadows have a mind of their own."

* * *

Marik almost fell forward as he landed in the hallway between his and Malik's rooms. He caught himself in time and looked around in surprise. Scowling and mumbling under his breath about psychotic shadows, he walked over to the purple door on the left and roughly opened it.

But the sands of Egypt were gone. Marik looked around in shock before he realized that they weren't actually gone, but it was night. That would explain the cold chill in the room and the shivering body on the bed. The wall before that was completely black was gone, but the darkness of a starless night replaced it.

"I don't want to. I don't want to! Stop it! Father, no! Please! Marik!" Malik's voice carried throughout the room, and Marik watched as Malik's shivering got worse. Realizing that the soul room was replaying that night two weeks ago, he walked over the bed and reached over to pull the sheet away from Malik's body.

He was curled up into the fetal position, his head hidden in his knees. The scars on his back that were new and scabbed before had faded, and he appeared to have no physical injuries, but was sweating and shaking as Malik's and his father's voices repeated over and over.

"Malik. Wake up." The man in question shook his head and covered his ears in a feeble attempt to block out the voices. "Damn it, Malik! Everyone's worried about you!"  
"I called for you." The deadened voice echoed in the room, and the screaming faded into the background. Marik winced but let Malik speak. "I called for you so many times and you never answered. I am so scared, Marik."

Marik scowled and sat down on the bed, answering Malik's unspoken question in a cold voice. "You don't have to see your father ever again."

Shivering again, Malik grasped blindly for the sheet that had pulled off him before giving up on his attempt to hide underneath them. "I'm scared."

"You're in a coma, Malik. You need to wake up." Malik shook his head and Marik sighed in frustration. They sat in silence for moment before Marik started talking again. "Yugi killed Dartz, you know. And there was enough information at the warehouse that the police were able to connect Pegasus to all the gang work he did, so he's in custody and Isis filed for divorce. She's getting one hell of a payoff to keep the whole thing quiet, so you don't need to worry about money or anything." As if he realized he was babbling, Marik clamped his mouth shut, not willing to say another word unless Malik contributed something.

"That's good…"

Marik's mouth twitched in an attempt to hold back a smirk before he gave out one last bit of information. "Oh yeah, and Isis is pregnant."

"What?!" Malik jolted up and looked at Marik in shock, and failed to notice the room brightened to a dull gray, the color before dawn.

Leaning back and staring at the ceiling, he shrugged as if he didn't know Malik was hanging on his every word. "Yeah, apparently she and Mahad did it two weeks ago and now they're gonna have a kid. I'm betting it was at the prison." He cackled. "If my one experience was any insight, I'd say they did it every Saturday, so it was only a matter of time." Yelping lightly as Malik smacked him lightly on the head, he smirked over at his lover. "Does that mean you'll come back to the world of the living?"  
Malik's mood dampened considerably. "I don't know, Marik…It'll be so hard…"

Scoffing lightly, Marik turned his head to look at the ceiling again. "Screw your old man. You shouldn't let him rule you like this. It's exactly what he would've wanted. You cowering in a corner, scared, and too weak to stand up and keep on living."

"I'm not weak!"

Sure, he had just been shoved off the bed and his butt was sore from the fall, but at least he was getting a lively response. Marik was already seeing changes in Malik's soul room, it was becoming lighter and the sky started to burn red with a desert sunrise. "Then prove it. Wake up, Malik."

Malik calmed down again and Marik had to raise an eyebrow at the sudden mood swings the boy was having. "B-But what if I…"

"If you what? You couldn't do something wrong if you tried, Malik. Now wake up." Marik genuinely smiled when Malik nodded, before lying back on the bed and closing his eyes, before fading from the soul room completely.

Marik took one last look around the room, the sunrise brought magnificent light to the room, and the wall that had previously been black was now painted to match the rest of the walls, and was covered in empty shelves, ready to hold new memories.

He smirked at just what kind of memories he could have Malik saving forever in his mind, before he too left for the real world.

* * *

"Malik! You're awake!" He winced as Ryou wrapped him in a hug, but made no protest. He looked around the room cautiously as Marik slowly woke up next to him.

As soon as Ryou moved away, Isis replaced him, gripping him tightly with no intention of letting go. "You had us all very worried."

Mahad chuckled lightly and placed a hand on Isis' shoulder. "I believe you're choking him."

She released him and Malik sucked in a huge breath of air, causing everyone else to laugh. They were still laughing when doctors came rushing into the room. "Impossible! How could he have just woken up!" They checked his vitals and fussed over him, much to Malik's annoyance, before they finally relented. "We think he should stay for one more night, just to do a couple tests."

Malik groaned and let his head fall back against the pillow and Marik smirked. "I'm almost positive all his vitals are fine, so there isn't a need to do those tests. Plus," he wrapped an arm around Malik, "I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to stay. He's been gone for two weeks and we'd all like him home."

The doctors, all three of them, huffed but relented and went to go get the release papers.

"Two weeks?!" Malik looked wide-eyed around the room. "I was gone for that long?"

Yugi nodded and smiled sadly at his friend. "You sure have missed a lot." Yami reached down to hold onto Yugi's hand, rubbing his thumb over the top of it.

"Your grandpa's funeral!" He tried to sit up, but Marik's shoulders held him down, and as he felt the shot of pain from moving his stomach too much, he was kind of thankful. "Oh Yugi, I'm so sorry I missed it."

The smile brightened a little, trying to reassure Malik, but he saw that it didn't reach his eyes. "It's okay, you can come visit him with me sometime."

Nodding his head, he looked around the room, taking in everyone, but noticed one person missing. "Where's Akefia?"

Ryou winced and turned into Bakura, who wrapped his arms around the boy and glared at Malik for bringing it up. Guessing what happened, his stomach dropped and he looked around the room trying to find someone who reassured him that his guess was wrong. "No…please don't tell me..."

"Akefia died in the warehouse." Bakura said bluntly and without emotion, but everyone knew that he was clamping it down inside him, not wanting to show weakness. "We buried him last week."

"Oh, Ryou…I'm so sorry."

Ryou turned around, but didn't move out of Bakura's embrace, leaning into the man's chest. "It's okay. I'm okay. Really. You can see his-his grave when you go see Grandpa's, they're b-buried in the same place."

But Malik knew Ryou wasn't okay. He heard the slight stutter that Ryou still had when talking about Akefia's death, and he was beating himself up for not being there for his friend when he needed him.

"Well," Mahad smiled as he signed off a paper on a clipboard one of the nurses had handed to him. "everything is settled. Malik, you can come home with Isis, Mana, and I."

He brightened considerably at the thought of living with his sister again and smiled at the room, before frowning at his leg. "How am I supposed to walk with this?"

Marik chuckled as Isis helped him move the black cast out of the sling and Mahad rolled over a wheelchair. "You're not."

Eyeing the wheelchair and pouting lightly, Malik looked over to Marik, trying not to worry over the dark shadows he saw under the man's eyes. "Oh, hell no."

* * *

**SW: Yo dudes! What's hanging, dogs?**

**Bakura: Never say that again. Ever.**

**SW: Chillax bro, no need to snap man.**

**Yugi: *stage whisper to Yami* I think she's lost it.**

**Yami: *stage whisper back* Well, she does kind of talk to us in her head.**

**Malik: I didn't die!**

**Review, my peeps! It's what all the cool people do! (Oh, and I'm fried out 'cause I started a new story! Check it out, it's radical! [OMR I'm a ninja turtle!])**


	11. Happy Ending

**SW: *hiss* School started.**

**Malik: The bane of my existence.**

**SW: I hate school. It's so…boring.**

**Ryou: But you get to learn something new every day!**

***crickets***

**Anyways…Thank you to snow-kim (Yep! And everything is going to be settled in this chapter, so don't worry!), Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san (You know, coming from you, that isn't very convincing XD and hooray for Malik!), JapanT'sTheName (Haha, yeah hooray for happy endings! But did you really expect anything less?), samaurai (Of course! How could I kill Malik a second time?), and takininja13 (Yep, happy endings time!) for reviewing!**

**Alright, this is it. This is the last chapter! And if you read the first story (which I sincerely hope you did), then you'll probably have some idea of what will go down here.**

**Enjoy! (If you don't like lemons, ignore the stuff in between the bold!)  
**

* * *

_A year later_

Joey dropped the controller in shock as the screen flashed with the message declaring Yugi the winner. "You couldn'ta let me win once, Yug'?"

The younger man blushed and shrugged, grabbing the dropped controller and placing it, along with his, on the table they had moved out of the way so they could sit on the floor in front of the TV.

Suddenly, Joey yelped and was pulled to his feet by the collar of his shirt. "C'mon, pup. We're going home."

"Aw, but Seto…we just got here!" Joey whined but followed his boyfriend out into the front hall, Yugi hiding a laugh behind his hand as he trailed behind.

"Joey…we've been here for three hours. And I swear, if I have to watch Marik swallow Malik's face one more time, I'm going to murder someone."

Joey rolled his eyes but relented, waving over his shoulder at Yugi as the two left the house. "See ya later, Yug'!"

As soon as the door closed, it opened again, this time revealing Yami, who was loosening his tie. "Those two are something else. I said hello and Kaiba looked like he was going to kill me."

Yugi chuckled and walked over to grab the briefcase Yami was holding, giving him a peck on the cheek as he walked down the hall to where his office was. "How was work?"  
"Hell." Yami rolled his eyes and followed Yugi into the office. "I don't know how my parents expected Bakura and Marik to do anything, they can barely add two plus two."

Yugi laughed again and set the briefcase down before turning and splaying his hands across Yami's chest, looking into those crimson eyes. "You sound stressed. Are you tired?"  
Smirking at the unspoken question, Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi's waist. "Not for you, I'm not."

Giving a small smirk, Yugi placed a light kiss on Yami's lips before walking out of the office, calling over his shoulder. "Dinner's almost ready, come and get it whenever."

Yugi skipped into the kitchen, where Ryou was diligently working on dinner. He looked up when Yugi walked in and smiled. "I heard the door open, is Bakura home yet?"

Yugi shook his head and smiled lightly when Ryou's smile morphed into a pout. "I'm sure he'll be home any minute, you know Yami and Bakura don't like to leave together."

"Get off my lawn, bitch!" The front door slammed shut and Ryou held back a smile while Yugi struggled to hold back a laugh. Bakura stormed into the kitchen and sat down at the table, glaring at Yugi. The man squeaked and ran from the room, probably to go back to Yami.

Ryou didn't turn around to greet Bakura, he knew that his twitching mouth wouldn't improve the man's mood. Instead, he continued working on dinner for the six that lived in the mansion. While he waited for Bakura to calm down enough, he thought about what had happened over the past year.**  
**All of them had graduated from high school, but had different plans on what they were going to do now. Yugi planned to open a game shop in his grandfather's name, and had already bought a small building near town with his grandfather's life insurance. He played the violin at a local café to raise money for the things the life insurance wouldn't pay for, and entered into local competitions much more frequently, already gaining a name for himself. Malik wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do and spent his time goofing around in the house or driving the motorcycle Marik had gotten him for his last birthday. Ryou had been accepted into Domino Academy with a full-ride scholarship and was studying to become a teacher. And finally, Yami, Marik, and Bakura had inherited equal portions of their parents company and had spent the last year getting used to being co-CEOs of their company.

"I hate her."

Ryou turned slightly to look at Bakura before turning and shutting off the stove. "If you ignore her, she'll eventually go away." He grabbed a plate of onigiri and placed it on the table with the large bowl of cooked rice, swiping away a hand when Bakura tried to grab one. Even though the mansion had a dining room, all of them agreed that it was too formal and ate together in the kitchen at the long wooden table there.

Bakura rolled his eyes and grabbed one of the rice balls as soon as Ryou turned away again. "It's been a year, even with the fucking restraining order she doesn't stay away."

Ryou came back to the table carrying a large bowl of curry with two ladles in it that everyone could put on their rice. "She can't do anything, you know that. You'd be able to put her in jail if she came within 20 feet of you or any one of us." He walked over to the door and called into the hallway. "Guys! Dinner's ready!"

Marik and Malik trampled down the stairs, with identical grins on their faces. Malik was carrying a very familiar silver suitcase, which he set by the door to return to Seto whenever he realized that he had been robbed, and they sped past Ryou into the kitchen. Yami and Yugi followed at a much slower pace from down the hall on the first floor, with their arms wrapped around each other. Smiling lightly at the sweet scene, Ryou turned around and walked back into the kitchen, sitting down in his spot next to Bakura.

"Itadakimasu!" Yugi exclaimed, even though Marik and Malik had already filled their bowls and were digging in.

Bakura rolled his eyes and filled his bowl in a much slower pace, nodding to Ryou in thanks before eating. Yami did the same and filled two bowls, one for him and one for Yugi, grabbing a rice ball in the process.

"You've outdone yourself again, Ryou!" Malik said around a mouthful of curry and rice. "Are you sure you don't want to become a chef?"

Amused, Ryou shook his head while swallowing his own mouthful before speaking. "I'm sure. I've always wanted to become a teacher, and I haven't stopped now."

Malik shrugged before scooping in more food. Yugi softly sighed in content, it felt so home-y here, with everyone eating together and enjoying each other's company…

"What the hell, Marik!" Bakura pulled the rice Marik had just launched at him from his hair before standing up to chase the cackling man, who was already running away, out of the kitchen and through the house.

…Never mind.

Malik stretched and sighed, lightly patting his stomach. "Gochisou-sama deshita, Ryou. That was delicious!" He stood up and dropped his bowl in the sink before making his way out of the kitchen. "I think I'm going to call Isis. Yell for me when Bakura's done chasing Marik."

"Say hello to them for me! Tell them to bring Adjo over sometime!" Ryou called out as Malik waved a hand over his head to show he heard.

Yugi smiled and stood up with his and Yami's dishes, walking to the sink. "Is Mana still living with Mahad and Isis?"

Ryou nodded and took the leftovers to the counter, where he covered them with plastic wrap before placing them in the fridge. "Yeah, I think she's become a sort of nanny for Adjo." He laughed behind his hand as he shut the fridge. "Don't tell her I called her a nanny though."

Rolling his eyes, he shook his head and started the dishes. "Why does she deny it? It isn't that bad of a job."

"I think it makes her feel old." Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi from behind, watching him do the dishes.

Yugi took the towel he had been drying with and swatted Yami. "If you're going to watch me, you might as well help."

Ryou walked out to the sound of them teasing each other and started up the stairs to the room he shared with Bakura. He hesitated when the sounds of Marik and Bakura fighting got louder, not wanting to get involved, but continued up the stairs. Nervously eyeing the door to his room, he opened it slowly and ducked out of the way as a hair brush flew at him.

"Get out of my room, bastard!"

Marik was still laughing as he left the room, off to go bother someone else. Ryou walked in and closed the door, rolling his eyes when he found Bakura kicking his dresser. He moved to the bed and sat down, staring as the man he loved tried to take his frustration out on the wood. "You know he only does those things to get you riled up."

"Yeah, well, it works." Bakura moved from the dresser and walked to the other side of the bed to fall into it face first, his next words muffled. "The man's insane."

"You didn't already know that?" Ryou crawled over the bed to place light kisses on the back of Bakura's neck. "You need to relax."

Bakura flipped over, catching Ryou by surprise, and pulled him into a deep kiss. He threaded a hand through Ryou's hair and tilted his head to get better access. When the two pulled apart, Ryou was in a daze and Bakura was smirking up at him. "I know the perfect way."

"Wha-" Ryou wasn't allowed to finish his sentence as flipped him over and hovered over him, making his intentions impossible to miss. Swallowing against the sudden lump in his throat, Ryou licked his lips at the sight of the darkened eyes above him.

As quick as he had flipped Ryou over, Bakura had removed Ryou's shirt and was slowing kissing his way down the younger's chest. Gasping at the feeling, he tried to think straight. "Yo-ou, um…Silencing spell?"

"Already activated." Bakura mumbled against Ryou's stomach, making him giggle lightly.

**LEMON STARTS HERE!**

Bakura sat up, pulling away from the temptation that was his lover to yank off his shirt as Ryou removed his pants and boxers. Feeling hands on his own zipper, Bakura looked down to see the younger albino staring at his jeans in concentration before pulling them down.

Ryou placed a light hand on the half-limp member, before smirking up at Bakura. The man barely had time to register that it looked totally unnatural for Ryou to smile like that before wet warmth covered his quickly hardening erection.

Moaning lightly as hands weaved into his hair and pushed him down farther, Ryou took even more of Bakura into his mouth. He sucked on it and swirled his tongue over his head, relishing in the sound of Bakura's breath rushing out of his mouth. Deciding that he had done enough, Ryou pulled away with a pop, before lying back to stare at Bakura with half-lidded eyes.

"Fuck." Bakura tensed as cool air met his wet erection before glaring at Ryou. "You are so in trouble."

Raising an eyebrow, Ryou purred out. "Do you need to teach me a lesson?"

Swearing again under his breath, Bakura moved until he was over Ryou, leaning down to whisper in his ear. "I'll make sure you won't forget it this time." Smirking at the shiver he felt Ryou give, Bakura dip his tongue into his ear before pulling away and shoving inside Ryou without any warning.

Yelling in surprise, the younger reached up to grip the other's shoulders, arching his back against the sudden feeling of being filled. "B-Bakura!"

Groaning as Ryou moved against him, the man brought his hands down to hold onto the hips below him, keeping them steady. Ignoring the whine that Ryou made when he could no longer move, Bakura pulled out and slammed back in, making the younger albino scream in pleasure.

Ryou trailed his nails down Bakura's back, not caring if his nails were digging into the man's back. He jerked his hips again to try and free himself from the death grip Bakura had on him, but failed. "F-Faster, 'Kura!"

"Ra, Ryou, you're so tight." Bakura slammed in harder, smirking when he saw Ryou's eyes roll back from the wave of pleasure that hit him when he hit his prostate.

"Again! Hit there again, Bakura!"

He obliged and kept up his fast pace, watching as Ryou panted and screamed under him as he struck that ball of nerves every time. Ryou's toes curled in pleasure before he screamed Bakura's name, spraying cum over both their chests. Bakura grunted and replied in turn with Ryou's name, before riding out his orgasm inside Ryou.

**LEMON ENDS HERE!**

Ryou's face morphed into a content smile as Bakura collapsed next to him. His throat was sore and his eyes were getting harder and harder to keep open, but he was happy and curled up into his lover. Bakura ran his fingers through Ryou's hair, watching as the boy fell asleep. He placed a tender kiss just as Ryou mumbled one last thing before falling asleep. "Love you, Bakura."

"You too, Ry." With that, he smirked at the room around him, as if daring it to object, before joining Ryou in sleep.

* * *

"That was awesome." Malik panted and turned his head to stare at Marik, who was in the same situation.

Marik snorted and turned on his side to drape an arm across Malik's naked chest. "It always is with you."

Bringing his hands up to hold Marik's arm to his chest and putting on a huge smile, Malik went starry-eyed. "Aw, you're so sweet!" He rolled his eyes and dropped his hands as Marik smirked down at him. "No need to get all cheesy."

"You know you like it." Marik let his arm dip down, his hand reaching for the area unfortunately covered by a sheet.

Malik felt a yawn coming on and stopped Marik's hand with his own. "Let's go to bed, I'm tired."

Pouting at being interrupted, Marik whined. "But Malik…"

"Oh, stop. We've already done it twice tonight, take a break." Malik turned on his side and snuggled into Marik's chest. "Talk me to sleep?"

Marik sighed and started rubbing circles in Malik's back. "I had this dream once, I don't know why it's coming back to me now, but…it was kinda about you and me. I was on a boat, I think it was a trader ship. I was remembering how I had been having dreams about you," Marik snorted, "I know, dreams in a dream, but, anyway, I was walking across the deck when I saw Yugi and Ryou. It was weird because Yami and Bakura weren't there and they were wearing shentis, and I know they aren't Egyptian and I killed Bakura." Waiting for a moment to see if Malik responded to that, he listened to the steady breathing of the man in his arms. Once he was sure that his lover was sleeping, he let his head fall on his pillow, tightening his grip on Malik and closing his eyes to fall asleep.

* * *

Yugi shrieked and ran around the table to avoid the splash of water that Yami had sent his way. What had started out as a normal routine of washing dishes, had quickly dissolved into an all-out war of dish soap and warm water. Yugi was almost positive there were bubbles hanging out in his hair and he could see Yami's own hair drooping slightly with the bowl of water Yugi had managed to pour over his head.

Right now, Yami was glaring at the boy across the table, holding a squeeze bottle of orange, lemon-scented soap. Yugi eyed the door, before looking back at Yami to see him gone. "Where'd you-" He squealed loudly as he felt something cold being poured into his hair. Turning around quickly, he saw Yami toss the half-empty soap bottle onto the table. Yugi winced lightly and reluctantly reached a hand up to press a finger to his hair. When he pulled it away, lemon-scented stickiness came with it. He pouted as stared at his hand, before looking up at Yami with large, watery eyes.

Yami stiffened and stared into giant pools of amethyst as Yugi sniffed and his lower lip started quivering. "Ra, Yugi. I'm sorry, did I hurt you? I didn't mean to, I swear! I won't do it again! Don't cry, Yugi! I'll go get you that chocolate cupcake you like from the bakery tomorrow if it'll make you feel any better."

"Kay!" Yugi brightened in an instant and turned to skip out of the room. "I'm going to take a shower!"

Yami blinked at the mood swing, before scowling, realizing that he had just been played. Mumbling under his breath, he looked around at the mess they had made in the kitchen before deciding that it could wait until the next morning and following Yugi up the stairs to their room.

He walked into the sound of the shower and the sound of Yugi humming softly. Smirking, Yami quietly opened the door to the bathroom and stripped, before opening the curtain.

Screaming and jumping about a foot in the air, Yugi reached to the side of the shower with one hand to steady himself and covering his pounding heart with the other one. "Kami. Do you want to give me a heart attack?"

Yami's smirk widened and he stepped into the shower to run his hands through Yugi's soapy hair. "You look like you could use some help."

"The question is, do I want it from you?" Yugi giggled before sighing, relaxing into Yami's wet body as the man massaged his head.

"I think you do." He let his hands travel down and let his head drop to nibble on Yugi's neck, listening to the small moan that followed.

Yugi tilted his head back, giving Yami more room. He shivered at the feeling of the hot shower on his back and the even hotter body pressed to his front. Yami smirked and bit down on Yugi's neck before stroking his tongue over the new mark.

**LEMON STARTS HERE!**

Yugi's breath hitched and he wrapped his arms around Yami's neck before grabbing the back of his head to lift his lips up into a kiss. The two tangled their tongues together and Yami walked Yugi backwards until he was pressed against the wall of the shower.

He broke the kiss with a gasp as cold tile met the heated skin on his back, before he was pulled into another kiss by Yami. Yugi shivered as he felt hands trail down his sides before harshly gripping his hips.

Yami moved one of his hands from Yugi's hips to slowly insert a finger in his backside, knowing that the water would work as a lube. The two continued to frantically kiss, pulling apart briefly for air before attacking each other's lips again. Yugi moaned loudly into Yami's mouth as the man inserted a second finger. He gladly took in the tongue that weaved its way into his mouth when he opened his mouth to let out a small whine when the third finger joined the other two already inside him.

Deciding that Yugi was prepared enough, he pulled his fingers out and roughly turned Yugi around and pressed him into the wall, making sure his erection was placed at the smaller's entrance before leaning into him and trailing a tongue over the shell of his ear. "What do you want, little Yugi?"

"Yami…I want you!" Yugi tried to push his hips back, but Yami's hands had kept their grip on him. He panted lightly and let his head fall forward, whining when Yami placed kisses down his spine. "Please!"

Yami smirked and thrust forward, watching as Yugi scrambled to find a hold on the wet tile in front of him. Yugi moaned as his insides stretched to accommodate Yami, and knew his elbows and wrists were going to be bruised from the way he pressing them into the wall. But that only sent a small jolt of thrill through his body and his erection screamed for attention.

As Yami pulled out and pushed back in an excruciatingly slow pace, Yugi moved one hand to reach down to his own throbbing member only to be stopped by a hand gripping his wrist. Yami picked up his thrusts and kept a grip on Yugi's hip with one hand and his wrist with the other. "No cheating, Yugi." He whispered against Yugi's ear, and licked his lips at the groan that followed.

He slammed into the tense body in front of him, and knew Yugi was getting close as the boy started screaming. Yami's own breath was coming out in pants and he groaned as Yugi become even tighter around him before he saw white liquid spray onto the wall in front of him. Coming right after that, Yami pulled a limp Yugi away from the wall and sat down in the shower stall, letting the shower clean up the mess they had made.

**LEMON ENDS HERE!**

Yami ran his hands through Yugi's wet hair and lightly massaged the back of his neck, removing any remaining soap and lulling Yugi into sleep. Sighing and smiling, Yugi curled up to Yami. Even though the water had long since turned cold, Yugi was perfectly content and warm against his lover.

He was dozing lightly when Yami finally picked him up bridal style and carried him into the bed room after turning the shower off. He made a small sound of protest at being moved, but didn't complain when he was set down on their bed. He kept his eyes closed and waited for Yami to join him, but frowned when he didn't feel the bed dip down next to him.

Suddenly, fluffy dryness rubbed up and down his body, and he laughed lightly when he realized Yami was drying him off with a towel. When the man deemed him dry enough so that he wouldn't catch a cold, Yami climbed into the bed. Pulling Yugi against him, he smiled lightly when his lover immediately tangled their legs together to be closer, never once opening his eyes.

"Night, Yami." Yugi sighed and dropped off into sleep, and Yami wrapped his arms around the younger when he heard Yugi's breath even out, making sure that they would be this way when they woke up.

"Good night, Yugi. See you in the morning."

* * *

**SW: Thank you everyone for reading this story and for favoriting, following, or reviewing (if you did any or all of those).**

**Ryou: Yeah! SoWhatever is happy that you wanted to read this!**

**SW: And I kept it fair! Each couple had only one lemon each!**

**Marik: *crossing arms and glares* Bitch. I wanted my lemon with Malik.**

**SW: Don't worry~ You'll get that eventually in my next story!  
Please review!**


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